BJP Lines up Rathyatra Month, PM Rally in Poll-Bound West Bengal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing a separate sabha in the state on 7 February.

The aim is to take these ‘raths’ to every assembly constituency in the state, the party said, and is likely to conclude in a month. Image used for representation. 

(Photo: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)

The top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be visiting West Bengal between 6 and 11 February to kick off a ‘Parivartan Rath Yatra’ across the state.

"There will be five such yatras in the state, from five different zones," said West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh in Delhi. Ghosh was speaking to reporters after a meeting of the state leadership with the national leadership in Delhi, to strategise on the upcoming campaign for the West Bengal elections.

BJP President JP Nadda will be visiting the state on 6 February to begin the Yatra from Nabadwip in the Nadia district. He will be back again on 9 February for two yatras in Jhagram and Birbhum districts. Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah will flag off the Rath Yatra in Cooch Behar on 11 February.

There is also a rath yatra scheduled to be flagged off from Kolkata, the dates for which are yet to be decided.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was scheduled to inaugurate road and fuel projects in Haldia on 7 February, will also hold a sabha there, said the party.

The aim is to take these ‘raths’ to every assembly constituency in the state, the party said, and is likely to conclude in a month.

PM Modi might hold a public meeting in conclusion of the yatras, sources said.

The BJP leadership said that it has written to the West Bengal government to seek permission to hold these yatras.

In response, the West Bengal government asked the party to ‘approach the parties at local level entrusted with maintenance of law and order’.

Separately, a petition has also been filed by an advocate at the Calcutta High Court, saying that it could lead to the deterioration of law and order in the state.