Bengal polls: PM Modi’s campaign rally series likely to begin in Siliguri, end in Bhabanipur

Kolkata, March 23 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is slated to participate in a total of 14 election-related programmes in West Bengal during the next month, is likely to begin the campaign from Siliguri in Darjeeling district and end with a mega road show-cum-rally at Bhabanipur in South Kolkata, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), sources said.

While voting in Siliguri is in the first phase on April 23, Bhabanipur, which is slated to witness a high-voltage contest between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, is going to polls in the second phase on April 29.

“As of now, it has been decided that the Prime Minister will attend two programmes in Kolkata. One will be at any one of the Assembly constituencies in North Kolkata, and the other will be in South Kolkata, and in case of the second, Bhabanipur is the automatic choice considering the high-voltage nature of the contest there this time,” said a state committee member of the BJP.

The 14 programmes will include public meetings to be addressed by the Prime Minister, as well as roadshows.

The last time the Prime Minister addressed a rally in the state was at Brigade Parade Ground in Central Kolkata, where he said that a change in the government in West Bengal is inevitable now, and that is already written on the walls and in the minds of the people of the state.

“The inevitable regime change has been written on the walls and in the minds of people of West Bengal. Everyone is chanting for bringing the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in the state. Everyone wants the Jungle Raj in Bengal to end now,” the Prime Minister noted, while addressing a mega rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, which marked the end of the BJP’s “Parivartan Yatra” amid the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state next month.

As of now, it has been decided that, in addition to the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will participate in eight programmes, including both roadshows and public meetings.

While the BJP’s current national president Nitin Nabin will address seven public meetings during that campaign, his predecessor and the current Union Health Minister, J.P. Nadda, will address six public meetings, confirmed the party’s state committee member.

–IANS

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