Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi are all set to hold election rallies in Howrah on Sunday as the battle of Lok Sabha further heats up.
It marks the third instance in this election season that Modi and the Trinamool Congress chairperson will be addressing voters of a constituency on the same day. Earlier, both these heavyweight leaders held election rallies on the same day in Cooch Behar and Burdwan. Trinamool Congress chief is scheduled to address an election rally in Howrah’s Uluberia on Sunday (May 12) at around 4 pm. PM Modi is also expected to take part in the election rally in Howrah at the same time.
Howrah is going to witness a high-voltage election campaign by the two top leaders on Sunday. Political circles are agog that a war of words is on the card. In the lead-up to the country’s general election, PM Modi has been accused by Mamata Banerjee of halting the state’s funds under various projects including 100-day works, Awas Yojana.
The Trinamool Congress has already alleged that the BJP-led Centre has withheld funds worth Rs 1.6 lakh crore under various heads for Bengal. Banerjee during her scheduled Howrah rally is expected to tear apart the ruling dispensation at the Centre on several issues. BJP is also on the line of fire after the Sandeshkhali sting video went viral where a BJP local leader appeared to have claimed that the Sandeshkhali incident was a conspiracy hatched by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari. Modi is expected to hold 4 election rallies on May 12. According to sources in the BJP, Modi may attend 4 rallies each at Barrackpore, Arambagh, Hooghly and Howrah. All these four Lok Sabha constituencies will go to poll in the fifth phase on May 20.
Banerjee has already conducted more than 60 rallies and roadshows in this election season. In several Lok Sabha constituencies, Banerjee has attended at least 2-3 roadshows and election rallies so far. She has carried out a marathon campaign in north Bengal recently.
She had recently held an election rally in Hooghly’s Balagarh in support of her party’s Lok Sabha candidate in Hooghly Rachana Banerjee. TMC leaders believe that the number of election rallies and roadshows attended by Mamata Banerjee may reach 100 by the time she starts her campaign for the seventh phase of elections scheduled to take place on June 1.
Banerjee is yet to hold election rallies in several Lok Sabha constituencies in south Bengal which include Uluberia, Howrah, Barrackpore, Basirhat, Barasat, Dum Dum, Jadavpur, Joynagar, Mathurapur and Diamond Harbour.