Amit Shah arrives in Bengal on 2-day visit, holds informal core committee meeting at hotel

Amit Shah

• Amit Shah met BJP core committee in West Bengal ahead of Assembly elections
• Shah to speak in Barrackpore, attend north Bengal events Saturday
• This is Shah's second visit to West Bengal within a month

Did our AI summary help?

Union Home Minister Amit Shah held an informal meeting with BJP core committee members after arriving in West Bengal on Friday night on a two-day visit ahead of the Assembly elections in the state.

A senior party leader said Shah was closeted with core committee members in an informal session, where the present political situation in West Bengal and the issues to be addressed by the BJP during campaigning were broadly touched upon.

The meeting, which lasted for about an hour, was attended by senior leaders Bhupender Yadav, Sunil Bansal, Biplab Dev, Samik Bhattacharya, Sukanta Majumdar and Suvendu Adhikari among others, the senior leader told PTI.

"It was an informal session which took place as Amit ji reached his hotel in the New Town area and obviously the present political situation in Bengal came up for discussion as Amit ji asked for opinions," he said.

Shah reached Kolkata airport at around 9:45 pm from Assam and was greeted by senior state leaders like Adhikari, state unit president Samik Bhattacharya and Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar.

Shah, who was originally scheduled to come at 8:10 pm from Guwahati, had to attend a crucial late evening BJP meeting in Assam before boarding the flight for Kolkata, causing a one-hour delay, another party source said.

“Shah will first address a workers’ meeting at Barrackpore at 11 am on Saturday, and then fly to north Bengal around 2 pm, where he is scheduled to attend a programme at the Airports Authority of India ground,” the state BJP source said.

He is slated to attend a closed-door organisational meeting at the AAI ground before leaving for Delhi.

This is Shah’s second visit to the state within a month. He had earlier been in Kolkata on December 30 and 31 last year for a series of organisational and public engagements. The election to the West Bengal Assembly is due in a few months.