Amit Shah in Kolkata for a 2-day visit: All you need to know

Union home minister Amit Shah arrived in Kolkata early Saturday morning for a two-day visit to take stock of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) affairs in West Bengal ahead of the assembly elections scheduled to be held in the eastern state next year. “I bow to this revered land of greats like Gurudev Tagore, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Syama Prasad Mookerjee,” Shah tweeted as he reached the state capital of Kolkata.

In the days leading up to his visit to the state, several Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders including Suvendu Adhikari quit the party and speculations are rife that they may join the BJP in the next two days.

Here is all you need to know about Amit Shah’s visit to West Bengal:

1. Amit Shah is scheduled to address a public rally at Midnapore on Saturday. A number of TMC leaders are likely to join the BJP during this rally, reported news agency PTI.

2. A day before his visit, a controversy erupted after placards with his picture above Rabindranath Tagore’s were found all over Bolpur and Santiniketan in Bengal’s Birbhum district. Shah is slated to visit Bolpur on Sunday.

3. The placards were removed after local people and students of Visva Bharati, Bengal’s only national university set up by Tagore, raised objections.

4. Meanwhile, the tussle between the Centre and the state over the alleged breach of law and order situation in the state during BJP chief JP Nadda’s visit continued. Nadda’s convoy was attacked during his visit to the state. While the Centre has summoned state officials over the attack, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said it was staged as BJP leaders always come with their own security.

5. It was decided in a party meeting last month that the Shah and Nadda would visit West Bengal every month till the assembly elections, likely in April-May, are over.

6. Nadda was on a day-long visit to the state in October and came on a two-day tour last week, while Shah was in the state for two days in November before this.

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