BJP and allies will win 19-21 seats in North-East

Dibrugarh (Assam) [India], Apr 5 (ANI): BJP leader and a Cabinet Minister in Assam government, Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday claimed that BJP will win 19-21 seats out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in the North East.
He also predicted a wipe out of the Congress party while asserting that Congress ideology has been rejected by the people of North East.
ANI caught with Sarma while he was campaigning in Dibrugarh.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: Is it a liability for you that you have been given such responsibility of winning 21 seats have been given to you by Amit Shah?
Sarma- This is a national responsibility. Narendra Modi should become the Prime Minister of India. This is what people want. It is the call of the hour by Mother India. People of Assam want to see Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of this country for a long time. With this mission, we are marching ahead and we are hopeful that we will 19-21 seats out of 25 seats in the North East.
Q: You are seen as Chanakya of Amit Shah in North East. You people were able to get a lot of parties in the North-East Democratic Front (NEDA). But several of allies are angry with you. How will you be able to win 21 seats then?
Sarma: NEDA is a development alliance. We fought several elections. Elections are fought with a motive to form the government. On two to four seats, we are fighting separately where Congress is not the main contestant. There is no loss in that.
But wherever we are in a direct contest with Congress, there we are fighting together. So, I believe NEDA will be able to win 21 seats.
Q: There are Assembly Elections in Arunachal. Do you think Citizenship Bill has stopped the running vehicle of the BJP?
Sarma: This is a myth. This is not an issue. There are issues where people have different opinions. But when it is time for elections, people worry about the country, Jammu and Kashmir, Ujjawala, Ayushman. People worry about schemes.
No befitting reply was given on the Mumbai terror attacks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a befitting reply on Pulwama attack. Do not think that people of North-East are not patriotic. People of North East, Arunachal are patriotic too. By voting, they will once again prove that we are no lesser than anyone.
Q: Why is your former party Congress scattered?
Sarma: Congress will be wiped out of North-East. North-East has already become Congress-free. I don't wish that a political party gets extinguished but the ideology of Congress has been rejected by people of North-East and it is not expected to come back.
Q: How many seats are you are winning in Assam?
Sarma: First five seats are going to polls in the first phase.  There is a slight contest on one seat and we are trying there too. We believe that we will win there too.
Q: What about the rest nine?
Sarma: Nine is in the second phase. Two-three seats are difficult. Rest is not. We will win 9-10 seats in Assam. 
The Lok Sabha polls for the 14 seats of Assam will be conducted in three phases on April 11 (five seats), April 18 (five seats) and April 23 (four seats).
The results will be declared on May 23. (ANI)