Kolkata: Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah’s scheduled participation in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ‘Parivartan Yatra’ programme amid the preparations for the Assembly elections has been postponed by a day.
Initially, the Union Home Minister was supposed to flag off the party’s ‘Parivartan Yatra’ programme from Raidighi in South 24 Parganas district on March 1. However, that programme has been postponed by a day and rescheduled for March 2.
“On March 1, the Union Home Minister is scheduled to go to Mumbai to attend a programme to pay homage to Guru Tegh Bahadur there. That is why his scheduled programme at Raidighi had been postponed by a day,” a state committee member of the BJP in West Bengal said.
As per the new schedule, the Union Home Minister will be arriving in Kolkata at around 10 p.m. on March 1 from Mumbai. On March 2, he will leave for Raidighi at around 11.15 a.m. by a special helicopter.
“He will be arriving at the venue of the ‘Parivartan Yatra’ programme at Raidighi at around noon,” the state committee member of the party said.
There are 10 organisational divisions of the BJP in West Bengal, of which nine will be covered under the scheduled ‘Parivartan Yatra’ programme. No ‘Parivartan Yatra’ will start from the state capital of Kolkata.
Apart from Amit Shah, several senior BJP leaders are expected to participate in the ‘Parivartan Yatra’ campaign at different stages. These leaders include Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP national president Nitin Nabin, Union Minister J.P. Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Union Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, former Union Minister Smriti Irani, and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, among others.
At the conclusion of the ‘Parivartan Yatra’ programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address a major public rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, likely either by the end of the second week or the beginning of the third week of March. The exact date of Prime Minister Modi’s rally is yet to be finalised.
(IANS)
