Rahul Gandhi to address West Bengal rallies today after permission row
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New Delhi: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi will hold election rallies in Kolkata and Serampore today, days after initial police denials disrupted his West Bengal campaign schedule.
The Congress chief's April 23 events were cancelled due to lack of clearance, prompting accusations of Trinamool Congress-orchestrated bias. Permissions were swiftly granted on April 22, rescheduling the meetings for Saturday.
Gandhi is due at Kolkata's historic Shahid Minar Maidan at 2:30 p.m., followed by a rally in Serampore, Hooghly district, later in the day.
Congress slammed the initial block as an attempt to stifle opposition voices amid West Bengal's heated polls—first phase on April 23, second on April 29. Gandhi intensified his critique on Thursday, blaming Mamata Banerjee's "unclean, polarising" governance for BJP's rise in the state: "If Mamata Banerjee had run a clean government... the BJP would not have been able to rise."
The row underscores escalating tensions among Bengal's rival parties.
(Inputs from IANS)