Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to speak at a large gathering arranged by the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata next month. The exact date for the rally is yet to be decided, with an official announcement expected shortly after the Holi festival on March 4, as per a BJP state committee member in West Bengal. The Election Commission of India is also anticipated to reveal the polling dates for the West Bengal Assembly post the Holi festival, coinciding with the finalization and declaration of the rally date to be graced by the Prime Minister.
Before the forthcoming mega rally at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to visit West Bengal by the end of this month. Although his visit is part of an official Border Security Force program, he will also lead an organizational meeting with the party’s core leadership in West Bengal. However, no public event featuring the Union Home Minister has been planned for this visit, as stated by the BJP state committee member.
The state BJP unit is actively engaged in conducting parallel ‘Ratha Yatras’ across various organizational districts in West Bengal to raise awareness about the impending mega rally in Kolkata. Furthermore, the state leadership is diligently working on finalizing the list of recommended party candidates for the 294 Assembly constituencies in the state. Two separate lists will be submitted to the party’s central leadership for consideration, one comprising three preferred candidate names per constituency and the other listing three names not favored as candidates.
Emphasizing a shift towards grassroots-level candidates over celebrities, particularly from the entertainment industry, the state BJP leadership is adopting a more structured approach in recommending party candidates this time.
