Amit Shah to attend two rallies in Bengal this month

Kolkata, Jan 2 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled for a single-day visit to West Bengal this month during which he will attend two political rallies.

State BJP sources said that the Union Minister is slated to reach Kolkata either on January 17 morning or the night before.

On January 17, he is slated to attend the two rallies, the first at Arambagh in Hooghly district and the second at Mathurapur in South 24 Parganas.

Political observers feel that Shah coming to West Bengal in two consecutive months confirms how seriously the central leadership of BJP is taking the panchayat elections in the state this year as a preparatory exercise for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

On December 17, 2022, Shah was in Kolkata to attend the Eastern Zonal Council meeting at the West Bengal state secretariat of Nabanna.

Shah aad arrived in Kolkata on the night of December 16 shortly after which he attended a meeting with the top leadership of state BJP at the party's state headquarters.

In the meeting, he reportedly cautioned the state leaders about the slow resurgence of the Left's popularity in West Bengal during the last one year.

"However, this time his tour is purely political in nature and that is why Hooghly and South 24 Parganas have been chosen as the districts where he will hold rallies, considering that our organisational network is still weak in these two districts," said a state committee leader of BJP.

He also said that besides Shah, the state leadership of the party is also keen on bringing the party's national president, J.P. Nadda to the state and address some rallies here.

"Last month when the Union Home Minister had a meeting with us, he said that he will come to the state often. The state leadership also apprised him of the ongoing tension and violence going on in the state," he added.