Amit Shah to campaign for assembly by-polls in Kolkata

BJP chief Amit Shah will campaign here in the run up to the Sept 13 by-polls for two assembly seats in West Bengal, party state chief Rahul Sinha said Tuesday.

Shah will address a public meeting in the Chowringhee constituency in the city Sep 7. He will also attend the concluding day's proceedings at the Sep 6-7 state committee meeting.

Earlier, the state committee parleys were slated to be held at Siliguri in Darjeeling district of north Bengal. However, the party decided on a change of plans after the Election Commission announced that the by-polls to the Chowringhee and Basirhat South assembly seats will be held Sep 13.

Party general secretary Ram Lal will initiate the state committee parleys on the opening day.

The BJP won 17 percent of the votes and bagged two Lok Sabha seats from the state in the general election earlier this year. This was the party's highest vote percentage in West Bengal.

The resignation of Trinamool legislator Sikha Mitra left the Chowringhee seat vacant, while the Basirhat South seat by-poll was necessitated by the death of sitting Communist Party of India-Marxist member Narayan Mukhopadhyay.