Amit Shah, among other BJP leaders have lunch in a farmer's house

Kolkata, Dec 19: Union home minister Amit Shah, who is on a two-day visit to Bengal, dined at a farmer's residence in East Midnapore's Balijuri village on Saturday as part of the farmer outreach programme of BJP in a bid to spread awareness about the contentious farm laws.

On Saturday, Amit Shah, BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh had lunch at a farmer's house in Balijuri village in Paschim Medinipur district.

Shah arrived in Kolkata after 1 am on Saturday on a two-day visit to take stock of his party's affairs in West Bengal ahead of the Assembly elections slated to be held in the next few months.

On Saturday, Shah visited Swami Vivekananda's ancestral house in north Kolkata while kicking off his two-day visit to West Bengal.

Day before Amit Shah's visit, MHA holds video-conference with WB's chief secy, DGP; discusses law and order

Today I am very happy and fortunate that I am visiting a place which inspires not just Indians but the entire world. This is the birthplace of Swami Vivekananda. Swamiji, during his life, had spread India's knowledge and culture to the entire world. He acquainted the entire world with universal brotherhood through his speech at the parliament of religions in USA. He was the person who tied modernism with spiritualism. He urged India to worship Bharat mata," Shah said.

Earlier, in a tweet upon his arrival in Kolkata, he wrote, "I bow to this revered land of greats like Gurudev Tagore, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Syama Prasad Mookerjee."

Speculations are rife that Suvendu Adhikari, who gave up his cabinet portfolios and the Trinamool Congress, may join the BJP during Shah's visit along with a slew of disgruntled TMC leaders, including some MLAs.