Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda are scheduled to arrive Kolkata on Monday, December 25, night on a two-day visit to assess the organisational landscape in West Bengal ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls next year, according to a party leader.
Shah and Nadda are expected to arrive in the city late tonight and will preside over a series of organisational meetings on Tuesday. However, there are no plans for them to address any public events or meetings.
”Both will engage with state leaders late on Monday night. Amit Shah Ji and J P Nadda Ji will visit Gurudwara Bara Sikh Sangat and Kalighat temple on Tuesday morning. In the afternoon, they will conduct a series of meetings with state leaders, and frontal organizations, and assess the organisational strength in preparation for the Lok Sabha polls," stated the state BJP leader.
Later in the evening, the leaders will participate in a closed-door programme at the National Library before departing for New Delhi, he added.
According to Agnimitra Paul, BJP state general secretary, the joint visit of the top two leaders underscores the significance that Bengal holds in the eyes of the party’s central leadership. "I have never witnessed both top leaders visiting Bengal simultaneously. This indicates the substantial importance that Bengal holds for the leadership of the BJP," she remarked.
Shah had set a target of winning more than 35 Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal. The BJP had secured 18 out of the 42 parliamentary constituencies in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The visit of these top leaders to West Bengal comes at a critical juncture as the party endeavours to fortify its organisational machinery ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Internal discord and defections have marred the BJP following the announcement of the 2021 assembly election results. Former Union Minister Babul Supriyo, party MP Arjun Singh, and six legislators, including national vice president Mukul Roy, have defected to the TMC since the 2021 assembly polls.
In the 2021 elections, the TMC secured a resounding victory for the third consecutive term, winning 215 assembly seats, while the BJP secured 77 seats.
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