Amit Shah, Nadda to visit Bengal ahead of Durga puja

BJP chief Amit Shah and its working president J P Nadda will visit Bengal ahead of the Durga puja to look into the organisational aspects and propagate about abolition of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, party sources said on Wednesday.

Nadda is likely to visit Bengal on September 27, to address a program on abolition of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir that gave it special status.

On September 28, the day of Mahalaya, that marks beginning of the durga puja festival, he will offer tarpan (offering water to god) in the name of BJP workers killed in political violence in Bengal in the last few years, a senior state BJP leader said.

On the other hand, Shah is likely to visit Bengal either on October 1 or October 2 to inaugurate durga pujas in the city.

Shah and Nadda visit come at a time when West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has gone to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital.

"After inaugurating Durga puja, he (Shah) will also address a party organisational meeting at a hall in the city," the BJP leader said.

There are several puja committees who have expressed their desire to have Shah inaugurate the festivities.

"We have informed Amit Shah ji about it, he has said he will look into the requests. Nothing has been finalised," BJP state president Dilip Ghosh had told reporters last week.

"We have been organizing programs and seminars across the country to sensitise the masses about our decision to abolish Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. So as a part of it we have been organizing programs in Bengal too. On September 27 there will be a program on abolition of Article 370. J P Naddaji will addres it", Ghosh said.

This will be Naddas first visit to Bengal after taking over as working president of the party.

According to the BJP sources, during his visit Nadda will also take stock of the organisational matter of the state unit and also ground level political situation in Bengal.

"Our party leadership has big plans for Bengal. After our stupendous success in the last Lok Sabha polls and in our recent membership drive when we clocked nearlu 80 lakh members in the state, Bengal is one of the focus states of the party.

"Amit Shahji and Naddaji during their visit will take stock of the organisational aspects with an eye on 2021 assembly polls," a senior state BJP leader said.

The BJP in last few years has made deep inroads in Bengal and has come up as the main challenger of TMC, by pushing the traditional Congress and Left Front to distant third and fourth position respectively.

The BJP in 2019 Parliamentary elections bagged 18 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, just four less than the ruling TMC. The TMCs tally has come down from 34 in 2014 to 22 seats in this election.