It has sent a clear signal that the party would not spare the Congress government for allegedly not being able to protect Assam's state animal. PM Narendra Modi had raked up the issue during his LS poll campaigns in the state.

At its office-bearers' meeting on the next assembly polls at a resort in Kaziranga on Saturday, the party slammed the state government for lack of protection measures that led to the spate of rhino killings in the state. BJP's target is to win 84 out of 126 assembly seats.

Given that rhino poaching became one of the main issues during the Lok Sabha poll campaigns, BJP on Saturday indicated that it was keen on pursuing the matter even in the run-up to the assembly polls.

"BJP will leave no stone unturned to provide protection to the one-horned rhinos and Kaziranga National Park because both are the pride of Assam. It was an election promise which we are committed to fulfill. Poachers are able to kill rhinos at their will because the Congress government is not at all sincere about protecting our state animal," BJP president and Union minister of state for sports Sarbananda Sonowal said in Kaziranga.

He added that since Congress came to power in 2001, altogether 1,060 rhinos were killed by poachers in Kaziranga.

BJP's another poll promise was to stop influx from Bangladesh. Sonowal said he had already raised the topic with Union minister of state for home, Kiren Rijiju, on sealing the India-Bangladesh border, development of border villages, updating of National Register for Citizens and setting up of sufficient number of tribunals for detecting illegal foreigners in Assam.

Buoyed by the "unprecedented success" in the LS polls and taking lead in at least 69 assembly segments, BJP wants to retain its tempo in the assembly election. With BJP strictly adhering to the "one-person one-post" principle, change of guard at the state unit seems inevitable. The party demonstrated success under Sonowal, but he had to give up the party's state president's post after he became minister.