Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make whirlwind tour of West Bengal starting from next month as the saffron party aims to increase its vote share in the state.
Starting from March, Modi will visit nine Lok Sabha constituencies in the state and will hold big rallies till May. He will begin his second phase of visits to the state after September to see the progress made in the campaign.
According to BJP leaders, Modi will begin his rally on March 26 at Kharagpur. On April 8, the prime minister will hold another rally in Assansole, which the BJP won in 2014.
On April 14, Modi will again come to West Bengal and this time, he will go to North Bengal’s Madarihat and Siliguri. Three days later, he will visit Krishnanagar in Nadia district and Kolkata and on April 22, he will be in North 24 Parganas’ Basirhat and Barrackpore. He will end the first phase of his visits to the state with a massive rally at Cooch Behar on May 2.
“The plan was formulated sometimes back. During this time, he (PM Modi) will be accompanied by a band of Central leaders. Our president Amit Shah will visit very frequently to look after the progress,” said Biswapriya Roy Chowdhury, vice president of the BJP in West Bengal.
Though prime minister will visit nine Lok Sabha seats involving 63 assembly seats, his rallies are expected to make a huge impact in the adjoining Lok Sabha seats as well.
A team—comprising of a prominent leader of the BJP in Delhi, national organisation secretary Ram Lal and Arvind Menon, Amit Shah’s close aide—has recently made a secret visit and took stock of the situation in the state. The BJP leadership is now busy in Tripura election campaign and as soon as the election there is over, the party leadership will jump into win West Bengal in 2019, said a source in BJP.
“None will deny the fact that BJP has now become the prime opposition party in Bengal. It will be in a position to win the assembly election in 2021,” said Chowdhury.
