Amit Shah to visit West Bengal next week, Expected to boost BJP functionaries

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will tour West Bengal from May 4-6. He is expected to boost the BJP functionaries considering the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. This is the first time Shah is visiting West Bengal since the party lost in the 2021 Assembly polls.

He will land in Kolkata on the night of May 4 and he will visit Hingalganj in the North 24 Parganas district the next day to attend a function of the Border Security Force (BSF). The next stop is Siliguri in the Darjeeling district to address a public rally at Railway Institute Ground.

Shah may also hold a meeting with representatives of different political and non-political organisations in Darjeeling. Dilip Ghosh, BJP's national vice-president and party MP, said Shah's main purpose is to attend official programmes. But he will also hold meetings with party leaders.

He is scheduled to visit the Cooch Behar district of North Bengal and attend a government programme in Tinbigha on May 6. On the same day, afternoon hours may be spent holding meetings with top BJP leaders. He will return to Delhi on the same day.

BJP has lost its footing in West Bengal since 2021 and continued to lose in by-elections and municipal polls. The party also lost the by-poll for the Asansol Lok Sabha seat, which it had won in 2019 by a margin of around two lakh votes. BJP was pushed to third position in many areas.

A member of the BJP's state committee in West Bengal said that it is crucial for the party to retain all the 18 Lok Sabha seats that were won in 2019 in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The current situation was described to be grim. Followers are hoping for Shah to give a definite message and instructions on how to improve the organisational structure.