Ahead of 2019 polls, PM Modi to join 3 BJP rallies in Bengal

Kolkata: Focusing on the 2019 general elections, the BJP will hold three massive rallies in the state which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi towards the end of this year, said West Bengal chief of the party Dilip Ghosh on Tuesday.

Ghosh said apart from these three "Jansampark" (connecting with people) rallies, similar rallies will also be held in all the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha constituencies in Bengal, demanding reinstatement of democracy and speeding up the state's development.

"There will be three or four 'Jansampark Yatras' in Bengal towards the end of this year, ahead of the 2019 general elections. The rallies will focus on reinstating democracy and speeding up the development of Bengal under the leadership of Modiji. The three big rallies will conclude in Kolkata in the presence of PM Modi," he said.

Claiming that a lot of people are joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state every day, the party leader said the party's membership drive through missed-call on a cell phone number will be relaunched in the state from August to September this year.

"There will be training sessions for the party's grassroot level organisers. The activists and leaders who have joined BJP from other political parties will be given the opportunity to work for party's betterment," he said.

Referring to the BJP's success in the state rural body elections this year, he said the party is appointing several of the new joinees as observers in different districts to formulate strategies for the hung Panchayat seats.

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"Our party has won in 300 Gram Panchayat seats while it has the chance to formulate Panchayat boards in 100 more seats. Our aim will be to stop Trinamool Congress from forming the boards in the hung Panchayat seats. Either BJP will try to form the board, or we will look for suitable alternatives," Ghosh said.

The state BJP chief also stated that his party leadership is focusing more on the common people to join it rather than trying to lure heavyweight leaders in Bengal as that would help them build a robust party structure.

He claimed that the BJP's strategy to bank upon the masses rather than leaders without people's backing will take them ahead of the state's ruling party in the future.

"Trinamool took some senior leaders, MLAs and MPs from other parties during their Martyr's Day rally, but these leaders do not have backing and support of common people. The BJP is focusing on taking such leaders who can bring in hundreds of their supporters along with them. This basic difference between Trinamool and BJP's strategies will be the deciding factor in Bengal politics," Ghosh claimed.

"We initially thought that without heavyweight leaders, the BJP will not be able to grow in Bengal. But now we can see that thousands of general workers are joining us every day which is leading to significant growth of the party. The CPI-M and the Congress' support base are becoming hollow," he added.