Shah to embark on two-day visit to Bengal tomorrow

| | New Delhi

In an attempt to keep the heat on in volatile West Bengal, BJP president Amit Shah will be on a two-day visit to Kolkata and Purulia from Wednesday and address a public rally in the latter in the wake of the killing of ‘BJP workers’ there, last month.

According to party leaders, the move is aimed at expanding and consolidating votes in the tribal district in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections 2019. The BJP had done well in panchayat polls in the tribal-dominated Purulia, Jhargram, West Midnapore and Bankura, a former Maoist hotbed.

Shah would be visiting Kolkata on June 27 and attend an intellectual meet and thereafter visit Tarapeeth temple. He will also to be in a public function to celebrate birthday of famed writer Bankim Chand Chatterjee.

On June 28, Shah would move to Purulia and address a public rally. The party president would meet BJP workers at  polling both level and tour the area. Party leaders point out that BJP has build  organizational  network in 65 per cent of 77,000 polling stations in the State.  There are at least five well-trained BJP worker in each polling booths in the State, they said. BJP leaders have often claimed that it has set a target of winning 22 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal which the Opposition in the State, however, describes as a ‘fanciful idea’. BJP had won only two seats in 2014.

Shah’s visit to Purulia comes in the wake of the West Bengal police making the first arrest in connection with the murder of ‘BJP worker’ Trilochan Mahato, whose killing in Purulia last month turned into a political issue after Shah blamed the ruling Trinamool Congress for the crime.

BJP sought to boost its expansion drive in the state by admitting Humayun Kabir, a former Minister in the TMC Government in West Bengal, here on Monday.

Kabir hails from Murshidabad district and has been in the Congress after he was expelled by the TMC in 2015 for his alleged anti-party activities.

Kabir claimed the people in the eastern state are looking for an alternative to Mamata Banerjee-led TMC and see the BJP as the most credible one.

BJP General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is in charge of the State, said Kabir’s joining would strengthen the party and more leaders from different parties would join it in the run up to the elections.