Kolkata: With BJP national president Amit Shah down with ‘swine flu’, it will be up to either Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath or Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to take the lead in the public meetings slated for West Bengal this month.
“Amit Shah Ji was supposed to address five public meetings starting from Malda on January 20. But now that he is not well, the senior party leaders are trying to bring Yogi Adityanath ji or Rajnath Singh ji to take the lead. We have sent a proposal to party headquarters and are awaiting their response,” said state BJP general secretary Pratap Banerjee.
The array of meetings are scheduled to begin a day after West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s ‘Federal Front’ rally, which is likely to be attended by several opposition leaders.
Meanwhile, the state’s BJP unit, in a letter, requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the February 8 rally at Brigade Parade Ground, the same venue chosen for the Trinamool Congress chief’s mega rally.
Shah, who is currently admitted to AIIMS in Delhi, was scheduled to address the rallies taking place in Jhargram and Birbhum districts on January 21, and the public meetings in Nadia and South 24 Parganas a day later.
Party sources have, however, said the BJP leader will continue on his ‘mission Bengal’ as per schedule, if he is discharged before January 20. “Since our party president is not well, nothing has been finalised yet on who will address public meetings in Bengal. We still have time. Let’s see,” said BJP state national secretary Rahul Sinha.
State BJP president Dilip Ghosh made the announcement about the public meetings after the Supreme Court denied them permission to take out a Rath Yatra in the state. At present, the party has two Lok Sabha seats in Asansol and Darjeeling and is gearing up to fight for 22 out of 42 seats in Bengal in the upcoming polls.
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