PM to talk MSP hike at Midnapore farmers’ rally ?

In a clear indication that the BJP was keeping Bengal in its priority list ahead of 2019 general elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday address a farmers’ rally at Midnapore town some 135 km from capital Kolkata.

The Prime Minister whose visit comes within a few weeks of party president Amit Shah’s Bengal tour on June 29 is likely to focus on his Government’s decision to provide an unprecedented hike to minimum support price of kharif crops. 

Midnapore falls in the Jangalmahal area where the BJP has done considerable well in the recently held panchayat elections coming up as the party number two displacing the Left Front.

Modi’s rally could draw huge crowd and provide a solid plank for the BJP’s campaign for the next year’s general elections experts feel. “That the Prime Minister is holding a farmer’s rally at Midnapore is an indication that Bengal is not only one of our top priority States but also farmers’ welfare is the BJP’s main concern,” State party president Dilip Ghosh said adding the State unit of the saffron outfit would “facilitate the Prime Minister for his decision to increase the MSP for kharif crops,” that no other party or Government did in such a massive scale.

Speaking about the expected turnout BJP leader Locket Chatterjee said, “I am sure the Prime Minister’s rally will be a historic one. The entire State is keenly watching the outcome of the rally tomorrow.”

Her party colleague and Union Minister Babul Supriyo said Midnapore was getting ready to shower its love on the Prime Minister adding the “historic decision” by the Prime Minister had “not only changed farmer’s outlook towards farming but has also strengthened their faith in the Government.”

Meanwhile a day before Modi’s visit the State BJP once again raised the issue of continuing violence in the State where the BJP members were being targeted.

Referring to the alleged murders of Lalmohan Mahato and his son Deepak Mahato in Purulia district the State BJP leadership said, “once again two of our members have been killed in Purulia which proves that the Trinamool Congress has become a blood thirsty evil turning the State into a hell.” Party’s observer for Bengal Kailash Vijabargiya blamed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the ongoing violence and political murders in the State.

 The party alleged out of 27 BJP workers killed in recent months Purulia had alone seen 5 such murders. Purulia, bordering Jharkhand also lies in the jangalmahal area.

The Trinamool leadership however denied its role in the recent murders alleging the deaths were caused on account intra-party conflicts in the BJP.