As per the tentative schedule, Shah will land at the city airport on Wednesday evening and will stay the night at a Rajarhat hotel, sources said.Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to arrive in Kolkata on Wednesday evening for a two-day trip, during which he will attend several programmes.
Shah’s visit to West Bengal assumes significance as the state is likely to go to the polls in six months’ time.
As per the tentative schedule, Shah will land at the city airport on Wednesday evening and will stay the night at a Rajarhat hotel, sources said.
On November 5, Shah will travel to Bankura district in a helicopter to hold the party’s organisational meetings.
He is scheduled to pay homage to 18th century tribal freedom fighter Birsa Munda and then will visit a tribal village – Chaturdahi to have lunch with tribal families.
Winning the support of this Hindi-speaking tribal belt is crucial for the BJP ahead of the 2021 state Assembly polls. Bankura has 35.8 per cent SC and ST voters and has 12 Assembly seats.
“In Bankura, Shah will hold a party programme, ‘Samajik Samuha’, and workers’ meet. He will interact with party karyakartas and then interact with members of civil society,” said state BJP vice-president Pratap Banerjee.
Sources said that the Union Home Minister would hold separate meetings with BSF officers and the CRPF.
On November 6, Shah will offer prayers at Dakshineswar Kali Temple and attend the party’s organisational meeting for the 2021 Assembly polls, in Salt Lake.
“On November 6, Amit Shahji will meet party workers at Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre. Later in the same day, he will interact with 200 representatives of several communities.
He will visit Dakshineswar Kali Temple,” said BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.
Shah is also scheduled to visit a refugee colony in Gauranganagar in North 24 Parganas district and have lunch with refugee families.
He is likely to address a 45-minute press conference in Kolkata and might meet Padma Bhushan Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty as part of the BJPs effort to reach out to intellectuals.
Shah’s scheduled Bengal visit last month was cancelled due to health issues and instead the party’s national president JP Nadda visited north Bengal.
Last week, the party’s central leadership made direct intervention and made several organisational changes in a bid to rein in the state BJP leadership and put an end to growing infighting, After appointing RSS pracharak Amitava Chakravorty the new general secretary (organisation) of the state unit, sources said the party had asked its national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya to spend more time in Madhya Pradesh than Bengal where he is the central co-observer.