Modi, Shah rallies in Bengal today; Adhikari’s father may join BJP

Shah will address party workers at Mecheda in East Midnapore district at 1.30 pm. He will return to Kolkata and release the BJP’s election manifesto at 4 pm.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah will address rallies at different locations in poll-bound West Bengal on Sunday. This is the first time the two top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be seen in action on the same day in the state during this election season, marked by frequent visits by Union ministers and top saffron camp leaders from north and central Indian states.

New Delhi, India - Jan. 12, 2019: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National President Amit Shah seen on the second day of BJP National Executive Meet, at Ramlila Maidan, in New Delhi, India, on Saturday, January 12, 2019. (Photo by Raj K Raj/ Hindustan Times) (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

PM Modi will arrive in Bengal on Sunday afternoon and address a rally at 1 pm in Bankura district where the BJP won two seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and made deep inroads in the tribal belts.

Shah arrived in Kolkata late on Saturday night, BJP leaders said. He will address his first rally around noon at Egra in East Midnapore district, where former Trinamool Congress (TMC) minister Suvendu Adhikari is contesting against chief minister Mamata Banerjee at the Nandigram seat.

Shah will address party workers at Mecheda in the same district at 1.30 pm. He will return to Kolkata and release the BJP’s election manifesto at 4 pm.

Suvendu Adhikari’s father Sisir Adhikari, the octogenarian TMC Lok Sabha member from Contai in East Midnapore, has been invited to Shah’s rally at Egra, BJP leaders said. He is likely to join the BJP. His eldest son, Dibyendu, is the TMC Lok Sabha member from Tamluk. He, too, has been invited to join the BJP.

“My father may join the BJP,” Dibyendu Adhikari told reporters on Saturday night but remained noncommittal on his next move. Soumendu, the youngest son of the family, joined the saffron camp in December last year. He was head of the TMC-run Contai municipality.

While addressing a rally at Haldia in East Midnapore on Saturday, the chief minister targeted the Adhikari family, calling the members “traitors”.

“I fed some traitors for years. Those who joined the BJP have done so to escape jail sentence. I am relieved that they left. They always controlled my movement and I had to seek their permission before coming here,” Banerjee said.

Reacting to this, Sisir Adhikari alleged Banerjee was in a habit of insulting her party leaders.