Brushing aside talks of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill putting the BJP on the back-foot in the Northeast, Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Wednesday alleged that some organisations “lacking in any support base” were misleading people on the issue for “personal gains”.

Deb said claims about the BJP being defensive on the issue was “complete falsehood and baseless”.

“The claim that the BJP is on the back-foot in the Northeast region because of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is a complete falsehood and baseless. Had there been turmoil in the region on the bill… then the BJP would not have won the autonomous council elections in Assam. This shows people are with us,” Deb told mediapersons in Kolkata.

Deb was referring to the BJP bagging 19 of the 28 seats in the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council elections in Assam held on January 19, days after the protests over the bill – that seeks to provide Indian citizenship to religious minorities in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Lok Sabha has already cleared the bill, which is now pending in the Rajya Sabha.

“The organisations which lack any support base in the region are protesting. They are misleading the people by trying to portray the Northeast as a troubled region. We will see to it that they don’t succeed,” the Tripura chief minister added.

On the BJP’s allies in the region opposing the bill, Deb said all parties had their own policy.

“But the fact is that, the huge level of development that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ushered in the region, will result in the BJP winning 20-21 of the 25 seats in the region,” he said.

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