Amit Shah to hold four roadshows in West Bengal today

Shah is scheduled to hold roadshows at Singur, Domjur, Howrah Madhya and Behala Purba. In all, 44 assembly seats in six districts in both south Bengal and north Bengal, including a few constituencies in Kolkata, would go to poll on April 10

Union home minister Amit Shah is scheduled to hold four roadshows in Bengal on Wednesday, as the state heads for the fourth phase of assembly elections this weekend.

Union home minister Amit Shah during a roadshow in support of BJP candidates ahead of the third phase of West Bengal Assembly polls, at Baruipur Paschim on April 2. (File photo)

In all, 44 assembly seats in six districts in both south Bengal and north Bengal, including a few constituencies in Kolkata, would go to poll on April 10.

“On Wednesday, Shah is scheduled to hold roadshows at Singur, Domjur, Howrah Madhya and Behala Purba,” said a BJP leader.

Singur in Hooghly district, along with Nandigram in East Midnapore where elections were held in the second phase, is the most prestigious assembly seat for the Trinamool Congress (TMC). Anti-land acquisition movements in these two constituencies had paved the way for Mamata Banerjees’s political resurrection almost 14 years ago.

While the BJP has fielded TMC turncoat and incumbent MLA Rabindranath Bhattacharya from Singur, the ruling TMC has brought in Becharam Manna, one of its MLAs of an adjacent constituency in the district, to contest from the seat.

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The BJP had to face initial hiccups as protests broke out after the party fielded a newcomer from the seat. Bhattacharya had joined the BJP in March after the TMC denied him a ticket.

Meanwhile, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee would hold four public meetings, two each in north Bengal’s Cooch Behar district and South 24 Parganas on Wednesday.

BJP’s star campaigners, including Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, and Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty, would also hold rallies and roadshows across the state.

Veteran actor and Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan would also participate in three roadshows in Hooghly to bolster the ruling TMC’s campaign ahead of the fourth phase polls.