Kolkata: With an eye on the upcoming panchayat elections in West Bengal scheduled this year and the Lok Sabha polls in 2024, BJP President J.P. Nadda will visit the state and address two public rallies on Sunday (February 12).
State BJP sources said that Nadda will arrive in Kolkata on Saturday evening and hold a meeting with the top party leaders from West Bengal.
On Sunday morning, Nadda will first visit Kanthi in East Midnapore district where he will hold his first rally. After that he will go to Katwa in East Burdwan district for the second rally. After the twin rallies, the BJP chief will return to Kolkata on Sunday evening before flying back to Delhi.
Last month only, Nadda had come to West Bengal for a public event at Krishnanagar in Nadia district.
State BJP sources said that Kanthi is an extremely important Lok Sabha seat for the party.
“The current Lok Sabha member from Kanthi is Sisir Adhikari, who is the father of leader of opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari. Although Sisir Adhikari is officially still a Trinamool Congress MP, he does not have any association with the activities of the state’s ruling party anymore. So in that sense Kanthi is a focus seat for our party in 2024,” a state committee member of BJP said.
The case is somewhat similar in Burdwan (East) Lok Sabha constituency, where Sunil Mondal is the elected MP. He had joined the BJP before the 2021 Assembly polls but at a later stage he again returned to Trinamool. However, despite his return, he has lost much of his control and authority over the party organisation in his own Lok Sabha constituency.
“So, we are focusing on this Lok Sabha constituency in a major way for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as well,” said the BJP state committee member.
The Trinamool, however, is not giving much importance to the visit of Nadda.
“The BJP lost in Nadda’s own state of Himachal Pradesh. His Bengal tours will not make any difference to Trinamool,” said party spokesman Kunal Ghosh.
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