Ahead Of Panchayat Polls, Amit Shah To Visit Bengal This Week. TMC Says 'Will Not Yield Any Result'

Amit Shah will hold organisational meetings with the state leadership behind closed doors, said BJP leader.

Union Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah addresses a public rally

Source : File Photo/PTI

New Delhi: In the wake of the forthcoming three-tier panchayat elections in the state, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will hold a public meeting in Birbhum district during his two-day visit to West Bengal beginning on April 14, said a state BJP leader on Monday. The leader added that he will also hold organisational meetings with the state leadership behind closed doors, reported news agency PTI.

"Amit Shah Ji will be on a two-day visit to West Bengal from April 14. He is scheduled to hold a public meeting in Birbhum. He will also take stock of the organisational situation and hold meetings with the state leadership. On April 15, he will visit Dakshineswar Temple and offer Puja on the occasion of Bengali New Year," a state BJP leader said.

As the party prepares for the panchayat election, Shah will visit Bengal at a time when it is looking to improve its organisational structure. However, the visit was not given a great deal of importance by the ruling Trinamool Congress.

"As the rural poll in West Bengal is approaching, BJP leaders will come to the state more frequently. But it will not yield any result," TMC speokesperson Kumal Ghosh said.

"We have seen how BJP's central leaders had camped in West Bengal before the 2021 assembly polls. But the party faced defeat. The state BJP is now trying to vitiate the atmosphere of the state," he added.

After the 2021 assembly election, the BJP has been plagued by internal disputes and defections. Since the election, six legislators, including national vice-president Mukul Roy, as well as party MP Arjun Singh and former union minister Babul Supriyo, have joined the TMC.

Shah's program in Bengal is part of the BJP's "Pravas" campaign to improve its organisation in the 144 Lok Sabha seats it lost in the 2019 general election by small margins. 

At the time, the party had secured 18 of Bengal's 42 Lok Sabha seats. According to the leader of the BJP, Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda are scheduled to address 12 rallies each, which will cover 24 Lok Sabha seats in the state that the party lost in that year's election.

In 2021, the TMC swept to power in the state for the third time in a row by winning 215 of the 292 seats that were up for election, while the BJP won 77.

As part of the Pravas campaign, Nadda has already spoken at two rallies in West Bengal in January and February.

It is believed that the ruling TMC has a stronghold in Birbhum, where Shah is scheduled to hold a public meeting. However, after the CBI arrested Trinamool Congress district president Anubrata Mondal in the cattle smuggling case, political dynamics in the south Bengal district have changed.