BJP chief JP Nadda to visit West Bengal; will hold meeting with state leaders
Nadda will arrive at Kolkata on Wednesday night and tour Nadia district on Thursday when he will address workers and also pay a visit to the ISCKON temple
With eyes on the imminent West Bengal panchayat polls and the 2023 Lok Sabha elections, JP Nadda will visit the state after his term as president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was extended at the national executive meet in Delhi on Tuesday, party leaders said.
Nadda will arrive at Kolkata on Wednesday night and tour Nadia district on Thursday when he will address workers and also pay a visit to the ISCKON temple.
“Nadda Ji may hold an internal meeting with state leaders in Kolkata as well,” said Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya.
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BJP has worked out a massive campaign plan for Bengal with Prime Minster Narendra Modi, union home minister Amit Shah and Nadda expected to address around 40 rallies in 2023, state office-bearers said.
“Nadda’s two-day visit is part of that plan. He wants to personally interact with district leaders in Nadia and appraise them about the party’s plans for the Lok Sabha campaign. He will cover other districts in the coming months,” an office-bearer said on condition of anonymity.
The BJP state unit was recently asked by central leaders to begin its preparations for the upcoming elections after an internal survey showed the party losing ground in many of the 18 Lok Sabha seats it won in 2019.
The central leadership has asked the state unit to secure these 18 seats and increase the tally to at least 24 next year.
BJP leaders said senior functionaries are already holding rallies to reach out to the masses even though dates for the panchayat polls are yet to be announced.
Actor-turned-politician Mithun Chakraborty, who joined the BJP in 2021, and state president Sukanta Majumdar held a rally and a roadshow in South 24 Parganas district on Wednesday.
Sunil Bansal, the BJP’s national observer for Bengal, said at a recent internal meeting that campaign for the panchayat elections should be planned in such a way that BJP becomes more visible than TMC, a second state office-bearer said.