By Shashi Bhushan
With just months remaining before the assembly polls in West Bengal, the BJP, engaged in a bitter fight against the ruling Trinamool Congress, is planning more than 1,500 rallies in the state.
These rallies will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers, and Ministers of the BJP ruled states, senior national and state leaders of the party.
Polls for 294 seats West Bengal assembly will be held in April-May this year.
While addressing a public meeting at Kakdwip on Thursday during Poribortan Yatra, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “Big rallies will be held at the assembly level. Over 1,500 sabhas (public meetings) will be held and workers from each and every booth will participate in it.”
A BJP leader associated with preparations of the party’s programme in West Bengal said that the focus will be on reaching out to each and every voter of the state and establishing direct communication with them.
“Five to six rallies will be held in each assembly constituency and senior party leaders will address it,” he said.
Another BJP leader pointed out that the party has plenty of leaders occupying different positions in government or organisation and they will address these rallies in West Bengal.
Sharing the initial plans for the rallies, the BJP leader said that the Prime Minister will hold rallies in clusters of few parliamentary seats, while senior union ministers will address rallies at a parliamentary constituency level or in a cluster of few assembly seats.
“Senior leaders, ministers in the party-ruled state governments will address the rally at the assembly level. They will also hold multiple rallies in a particular assembly seat as per requirement at the ground level,” he added.
Apart from big rallies, the party will also focus on holding smaller rallies to reach out voters in small groups.”The party is drawing plans to hold small rallies of a few hundred or thousand people during the run-up to the Bengal assembly polls,” the party leader said.
Riding high on the Lok Sabha results in the state in 2019 in which the party had won 18 of West Bengal’s 42 seats, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to dislodge the Mamata Banerjee government. It has set a target of winning more than 200 seats in West Bengal.
Several leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress have joined the party in the state in the last few months.
(Shashi Bhushan can be contacted at shashi.b@ians.in)
