Amit Shah arrives today, Bengal BJP eyes defectors – Times of India

KOLKATA: Bengal BJP is waiting for another rush of inductees from other parties during Union home minister Amit Shah’s public meeting at Howrah’s Dumurjala on January 31. A couple of ministers, MLAs, MPs, former mayor/chairpersons of municipalities and former councillors are set to take up the BJP flag before the Election Commission announces the West Bengal assembly polls.
As many as 23 names are doing the rounds on social media, mainly from Trinamool, that can turn the Dumurjala meeting into a mega joining show after Shah’s Midnapore meeting in December where former minister Suvendu Adhikari, five Trinamool MLAs, four MLAs from Congress and Left, a Trinamool MP and 43 municipal and panchayat representatives joined BJP.
The list of 23 this time includes former minister Rajib Banerjee, expelled Trinamool Bally MLA Baishali Dalmiya, former Howrah mayor Rathin Chakraborty, Trinamool Uttarpara MLA Prabir Ghoshal and 10 former Howrah Corporation councillors. Trinamool’s Diamond Harbour MLA Dipak Haldar and Joynagar MP Pratima Mandal too have come under the Trinamool scanner. “Dadar anugami” posters appeared in Hooghly’s Konnangar that comes under Prabir Ghoshal’s Uttarpara constituency.
BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy didn’t take names but said many leaders from other parties would be joining BJP in presence of Shah. “Quite a few political heavyweights are expected to join the party in that meeting. They are known and credible faces,” Roy said.
Suvendu spoke on similar lines in Hooghly’s Arambagh. “A host of political leaders, district-level organisers, civic and panchayat representatives would be joining that day,” he said.
After getting a whiff of it, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee had asked those set to switch loyalties to do so “quick and fast”. She has also called a meeting of party MLAs, MPs and district-level organizers at her Kalighat home on Friday to take stock of the ground situation and crack the whip on probable deserters before they join BJP on January 31.
The Union home minister will hold a roadshow in the Matua belt in North 24 Parganas’ Thakurnagar on January 30 to reassure Matuas and namasudras — mostly refugees from Bangladesh — about the Modi government’s commitment to grant them citizenship under Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Shah would also spend some time at the Matua headquarters at Thakurbari.
Before the Thakurnagar roadshow, Shah will visit the Iskcon temple at Mayapur, days after Suvendu floated the ‘Hare Krishna hare hare, BJP ghare ghare’ slogan, sending out a message to Vaishnavs in Bengal.
According to Roy, the home minister was likely to take time out and visit Vidyasagar’s house on Amherst Street. “Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar breathed his last in this Amherst Street house,” Roy said.