Shah meets party leaders in Bengal before local polls

Shah is also likely to meet the party’s state president Sukanta Majumdar and leader of the opposition in the West Bengal legislative assembly Suvendu Adhikari in New Delhi on Tuesday, people privy to the matter said on Saturday.

Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday met the top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership in West Bengal, senior party leaders said on Saturday. The meeting comes at a time when the state is gearing up for the panchayat polls, scheduled in early 2023.

Union home minister Amit Shah being welcomed by Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari during a meeting with the West Bengal BJP core group and other senior leaders, in Kolkata. (ANI)

Shah is also likely to meet the party’s state president Sukanta Majumdar and leader of the opposition in the West Bengal legislative assembly Suvendu Adhikari in New Delhi on Tuesday, people privy to the matter said on Saturday. “There is a meeting of party MPs in New Delhi on Monday, where I have been invited. He (Shah) has asked me stay back and has given me 30 minutes time on Tuesday. He said that he needs to discuss multiple issues with me and the party’s state president,” Adhikari told the reporters outside the Kolkata airport after seeing off Shah, adding that “the party leaders were satisfied after the meeting”.

The panchayat polls, which are being seen as a litmus test for the ruling Trinamool Congress and its arch rival the BJP ahead or the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, are likely to be held early next year.

On Friday night soon after landing in Kolkata, Shah went straight to the BJP’s state office in central Kolkata where he held a meeting with around 14 senior state BJP leaders.

A senior leader said that Shah took stock of the party’s preparedness and urged leaders to motivate the party’s ground level workers.

“We briefed him about how we are preparing for the panchayat polls. The Prime Minister or the home minister need not worry about the panchayat poll results. The state BJP is equipped enough to fight it out in the panchayat polls,” said Sukanta Majumdar, BJP state president.

Around 14 leaders, including senior state leaders, party’s MPs and legislators, such as Dilip Ghosh, Sukanta Majumdar, Suvendu Adhikari, Amit Malviya, Sunil Bansal, Locket Chatterjee, Agnimitra Paul attended the meeting with Shah.

Meanwhile, TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee branded BJP leaders as migratory birds.

“You will not see the migratory birds of BJP after elections are over. On the other hand, Mamata Banerjee will always be with you,” he said while addressing a rally in Nadia district.