KOLKATA: Home Minister Amit Shah will be addressing a mega rally in Kolkata for the “deprived people” of West Bengal on Wednesday, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. This will mark his first rally on Mamata Banerjee’s turf after the 2021 state assembly election.
BJP sources told The New Indian, “Shah will be here in Kolkata on November 29. He will address the deprived people of West Bengal. The state govt had promised many things be it during assembly polls or panchayat elections but nobody received anything from the state govt.”
The mega rally will also serve as a litmus test to measure the strength of the party in the state on the back of the general elections.
Sources have further said that the rally will be held at the same place where the Trinamool Congress holds its annual meeting on July 21 every year, in the afternoon at Esplanade.
Shah is likely to address the public at 2 PM.
Earlier, the venue of the rally had sparked a political row between the TMC and the BJP owing to the police not permitting the BJP to conduct the rally. However, the saffron party took the issue to the court where they were given the green light, following which the stage was built.
Multiple incidents of mudslinging between the two parties have sprung up in the state where both have accused the other of corruption, while the Mamata Banerjee-led party accused the Centre of neglecting the state.
Earlier, the top TMC command had taken to the streets of Delhi, led by general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, to protest against the BJP-led central government for withholding MGNREGA funds from the state.