NEW DELHI: In the wake of the surge in Covid cases, PM Narendra Modi and senior BJP leaders, including home minister Amit Shah and party president J P Nadda, will not hold any physical rallies in West Bengal for the remaining two phases and address voters virtually from Friday onwards.
As Modi will have a busy day with meetings on Friday, he decided to skip the West Bengal visit and will address one rally virtually. “Tomorrow, I will be chairing high-level meetings to review the prevailing Covid-19 situation. Due to that, I will not be going to West Bengal,” the PM tweeted on Thursday.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said the PM had to cancel his visit to Bengal on April 23, during which he was scheduled to address four rallies across four districts.
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The Left, Congress and TMC have already called off public meetings from the ongoing state election campaign. PM Modi’s decision is a right step in the same direction. However, with two phases of the poll still left, it would be more prudent that BJP calls off all public rallies.
“BJP Bengal unit and the voters of West Bengal were looking forward to his visit but we realise the gravity of the situation and the rationale for him not being able to make it in person,” Ghosh said.
“Accordingly, the PM will address voters of West Bengal, particularly voters of Malda, Murshidabad, Birbhum and Kolkata, through a virtual medium at 5 pm on Friday,” he added.
Shah had three rallies scheduled on Thursday, but he addressed just one and cancelled the others. Defence minister Rajnath Singh's office said he has cancelled his visits to the state scheduled on April 23 and 26.
However, the party has made extensive plans for a hybrid model of campaigning for the remaining two phases. There will be at least 65 locations across four poll-bound districts where the PM’s speech will be relayed live. Similar format is being planned for other leaders, including Shah and Nadda.