Modi says no to public meetings in Bengal

Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will be in Kolkata on December 30, has decided not to hold any party meeting due to the prevailing Covid situation. However, BJP party workers have been disheartened by this piece of news and are planning to send a delegation to meet the Prime Minister instead. However, nothing has been finalised, according to several media reports.

PM Modi will chair the National Ganga Council meeting to rejuvenate the Ganges. The Prime Minister will also inaugurate several rail projects in West Bengal. The state is likely to receive a New Year gift in the form of a Vande Bharat Express, the first one in eastern India, on December 30. The Prime Minister is slated to flag off this train from Howrah to New Jalpaiguri (NJP) in North Bengal on that day. Modi is also likely to inaugurate the Joka-Taratala stretch of the Joka-BBD Bag Metro corridor virtually from Howrah station. According to reports, the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express will depart Howrah early in the morning and reach NJP in the afternoon. It will then return to Howrah in the late evening.

With the forthcoming panchayat elections in the state, the Bengal BJP unit wanted the PM to hold a rally at Howrah's Dumurjala Stadium to blow the poll bugle but the Prime Minister has decided otherwise and called off any further meetings on his Kolkata schedule.

Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said: "We were planning to hold a meeting with the PM at Dumurjala Stadium. Given the increasing Covid-19 cases, PM Modi wouldn't be able to do the rally." However, he said the state BJP representatives can meet him in Kolkata.