PM Modi to hold roadshow for BJP's Tapas Roy in Kolkata today
Kolkata/IBNS: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a roadshow for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Kolkata North candidate, Tapas Roy, in the northern part of the city on Tuesday.
Modi will begin his campaign on Tuesday from Barasat where he is scheduled to a public meeting at 2:30 pm.
The Prime Minister will hold a public meeting in Jadavpur at 4 pm.
In the evening, Modi will hold a roadshow from Shyambazar to Simla Street.
The Prime Minister, who is the chief campaigner of the BJP, will begin the roadshow paying floral tributes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at 5:55 pm.
He will conclude the roadshow paying floral tributes to Swami Vivekananda at Vivekananda's House in Simla Street at 7 pm.
The BJP, which is aiming to improve their tally from 18 seats in this current elections, is betting on Trinamool Congress turncoat Tapas Roy, who joined the saffron camp just weeks before the elections were declared.
With Roy, a veteran politician, coming into the BJP fold, the BJP is trying to make a splash in the political landscape of Kolkata, which is heavily dominated by the TMC.
Ahead of Modi's roadshow, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said, "The Prime Minister is scheduled to hold a rally. It is absolutely fine. Anyone can hold political programmes here. But it is not correct for him to hold the rally as the Prime Minister.
"He can call himself as the BJP leader but it is wrong to hold a political rally referring to himself as Prime Minister. I don't do that. I don't tag the Chief Minister prior to my name while holding such rallies."
In a counter, BJP national vice president and Bardhaman-Durgapur candidate, Dilip Ghosh, "We have taken a pledge to win Kolkata and adjoining seats. CPI-M ran the government by winning seats from the rural belt but has never been able to win Kolkata.
"We will win and change the picture of West Bengal."