Kolkata:
Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah is likely to visit West Bengal for two days later this month to take stock of the party organisation ahead of the 2021 assembly polls, a senior party functionary of the state said on Friday. Shah’s possible visit will take place in the backdrop of the ongoing tussle between the Trinamool Congress government and the Ministry of Home Affairs over the mob attack on BJP president J P Nadda’s convoy on Thursday.
The Mamata Banerjee dispensation decided not to send the chief secretary and the director general of police to New Delhi on December 14 disregarding the MHA’s summons in the wake of the attack. ”Most likely Amit Shah Ji will be in West Bengal on a two-day visit from December 19. He will attend a programme of refugees in North 24 Parganas and another function at Santiniketan. However, nothing has been finalized as of now,” BJP state general secretary Sayantan Basu said.
According to state BJP sources, the Union home ministers visit is of immense political significance with Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar criticising the ”worsening” law and order situation in the state. The BJP leadership has slammed the state government over the mob attack on Nadda’s convoy when he was on his way to attend a party programme at Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency.
Though Nadda, who was in a bullet-proof vehicle, was unharmed, several BJP leaders including its Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya suffered injuries as alleged TMC workers pelted the convoy with stones, the party claimed. BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh had last month said that Shah and Nadda would visit West Bengal every month till the assembly elections, due in April-May next year, is over.
Nadda had paid a day-long visit to north Bengal in October and a two-day visit this week, while Shah was in the state for two days in November. After having a limited presence in the politically polarised state for decades, the BJP emerged as the main rival of the ruling Trinamool Congress, winning 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general election.
In the last few years, the BJP’s strength has increased manifold in the state where it has never been in power..
