Lucknow: BJP national chief Amit Shah on Sunday told a party meeting no non-Hindu "Bangladeshi infiltrator" would be allowed to stay in the country, the assertion possibly aimed at boosting the morale of party leaders in the run-up to next year's parliamentary elections.

"We will not let intruders from Bangladesh live in Assam or our country. However, due respect would be given to Hindu refugees," Shah was quoted as saying at the party's state working committee's convention in Meerut.

Shah's statement, at the meet's concluding session that was out of bounds for the media, was in contrast to what Narendra Modi had said on Saturday during an interview to a news agency.

"As per the due process, all possible opportunities will be given to get their concerns addressed," the Prime Minister had said, referring to the 40 lakh people in Assam excluded from the draft National Register of Citizens.

Shah's comment in Meerut appeared to be aimed at party leaders, including MPs and MLA, who had claimed at the meet's previous sessions that they lacked issues to bank upon for the upcoming elections.

"Shah was trying to tell the partymen that the Centre would move ahead with the NRC, as it was an important tool for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections," a BJP leader said.

"Our national president said the Centre wouldn't compromise on the NRC. We will take care of the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Christian refugees. But the intruders must be thrown out," BJP Uttar Pradesh chief Mahendra Nath Pandey said while briefing reporters in Meerut on Shah's speech.

"We are concerned about Indian Hindus and Muslims but will not follow a policy of appeasement, which is done by our rival parties. They look more concerned about the intruders," Pandey quoted Shah as saying.

Sources said Shah underplayed the possibility of a pre-poll alliance involving the Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Congress and the Rashtriya Lok Dal on the 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh and said that such "friendship of opportunism" wouldn't be possible because of squabbles over sharing seats.

The Opposition is gearing up for a united contest in Uttar Pradesh against the BJP, which had polled 42 per cent of the votes cast in 2014 in the heartland state.

Pandey quoted Shah as saying that the BJP's vote share had dipped by just 5 per cent in the Lok Sabha bypolls in Phulpur, Gorakhpur and Kairana where the party lost to an alliance of the SP, BSP and the RLD.

"He (Shah) has given us a target of 73-plus seats for 2019," Pandey said.