BJP national executive meeting begins in Guwahati

In a bid to establish its presence in the Northeast ahead of the Assam assembly polls, the BJP today began its national executive meeting in Guwahati with the party's top leadership focusing on corruption, price rise and development of the region.

The two-day meet, held in the Northeast for the first time, was inaugurated by party president Nitin Gadkari in the presence of senior leaders LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley.

The closed-door meeting is being attended by 350 delegates with chief ministers of seven BJP ruled states, former party president Venkaiah Naidu, party's Assam in-charge Varun Gandhi, former Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson Najma Heptulla, party's Mahila Morcha president and television actress Smriti Irani, former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia among others.

Chief ministers Narendra Modi (Gujarat), BS Yeddyurappa (Karnataka), Shivraj Singh (Madhya Pradesh), Arjun Munda (Jharkhand), Raman Kumar (Chattisgarh), RP Nishank (Uttarakhand) and PK Dhumal (Himachal Pradesh) were present in the meeting.