After tasting victory in the recent Assembly elections in northeastern states Bharatiya Janata Party seems to concentrate on the development of these states. Already MoS in Prime Minister’s Office Dr Jatindra Singh has given a new direction to the region which got good returns to the party in the form of electoral success in Assam. Now the party is adopting a new way to integrate these states into Indian mainstream through cricket. Aimed at promoting cricket in northeastern states, BCCI President Anurag Thakur announced development of cricketing infrastructure in the region besides the possibility of the board doubling its annual grants to affiliate and associate member states. The BCCI president, who took charge 10 days back, was on a whirlwind tour of the New Area Development Project (NADP) states and began with a trip to Dimapur recently igniting hopes of transforming the standard of cricket in the region. Acknowledging that cricket is an expensive game, Thakur urged affiliate and associate member states likes Meghalaya to keep promoting the game by holding camps and games in an organised way. Presently each affiliate and associate member state gets Rs 50 lakh each. Sports has been always bonding factor especially for the youth and cricket is the most attractive and popular one and BCCI is trying to concentrate on development of infrastructure and raising the funds allocation so that the potential vote bank remains intact for the party. A long term planning and strategy used in a right way surely would get good dividends. Now onwards the focus would be create infrastructure of global standards so that all states should be able to host international matches. Development through cricket would be the new mantra for BJP for the north-east where this game has never been a popular one. In fact football has been the all time favourite keeping in mind the climate conditions with most of the states remaining under heavy and long duration rains.