The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is banking on development measures it had initiated to win at least 10 of the 20 seats in the insurgency-ridden and under-developed hill districts, to fulfil its larger mission of bagging 40 seats in the 60-member assembly when Manipur goes to the polls on February 28 and March 5 in two phases.

The hills have been a stronghold of the Congress party, which had won nine seats in the 2017 elections. The BJP had wrested five, while the Naga People’s Front (NPF) had cleared the ropes in four and the National People’s Party (NPP) had bagged two seats.

The BJP-led government of chief minister N Biren Singh had launched a “go to hills” and “go to villages” programme to expedite development measures in the hills, which account for 90% of the state’s area but only 10% of its population.

“Our target is 40-plus seats in total, without separating hill and valley,” state BJP president A. Sharda Devi told ET.

The BJP’s allies in government, NPP and NP, are major players in the hills, besides the Congress.

NPF is contesting in 10 seats this time, all in the hills, while the NPP is trying its luck in 39 seats on its own – a large number of these in the hills.

Speaking at election rallies in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi, Union home minister Amit Shah said recently that the BJP government would “bridge the divide between hills and valleys of the state.”

“When Congress was ruling, they used to divide hill and valley regions, make people fight but we are bridging the gap. We kept our promise of blockade, bandh-mukt (free) Manipur…the Biren Singh government has transformed Manipur into a path of peace,” he said.

Shah said, just as the BJP governments had done in Assam and Tripura, it would bring all Kuki rebel groups to the table for talks.

“BJP has built a robust organisation in the hills, and we have a large number of workers with people connect,” a senior BJP leader told ET. “The state government has done several projects for the development of hill areas and there is no reason we cannot get 10 seats.”

The hills are inhabited largely by the Christian Naga and Kuki-Zomi communities. “The Christian majority hills will vote for BJP. Chief minister…has gone all out to ensure that hill-centric measures are initiated and the apathy towards the hills is removed,” the person added.