Amit Shah reaches WB for two-day visit, all eyes on Suvendu Adhikari amid exodus in TMC

On Saturday, BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Kolkata after 1 am, amid massive rebellion in the ruling Trinamool Congress. Amit Shah is on a two-day visit to Mamata Banerjee ruled state and will take stock of his BJP's work in West Bengal ahead of the Assembly elections slated to be held next year. Amit Shah extended his tribute to Rabindranath Tagore, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Syama Prasad Mookerjee after reaching Bengal. Speculations are rife that ex-TMC MLA Suvendu Adhikari, may join the BJP during Shah's visit along with a slew of disgruntled TMC leaders, including some MLAs such as Silbhadra Dutta and Jitendra Tiwari.

Shah will address a public rally at Midnapore on Saturday and a road show in Bolpur. Shah's visit comes days after BJP chief JP Nadda was on two-day visit and his convoy was attacked in Diamond Harbour, triggering a tussle between Mamata Banerjee's administration and Central government.

Full schedule of Amit Shah

READ | BJP Devises Elaborate Booth-level Strategy For Its 'Mission Bengal'

Rebellion in TMC

On December 17, Suvendu Adhikari quit TMC ending months-long speculations and is all set to join BJP.  After his resignation, Adhikari held a closed door meeting with disgruntled leaders of the party including senior MP Sunil Mandal, Jitendra Tiwari, Nityananda Chattopadhyay. Following this, Asansol MLA Jitendra Tiwari,  Abhijit Acharya and Retd. Col Diptangshu Choudhury quit from state bodies. The number of resignations went up to nine within two days after Banashri Maity, MLA from East Midnapore, Barrackpore MLA Shilbhadra Dutta, also resigned from the party. just 2 days

READ | Another TMC MLA From East Midnapore Resigns, Marks 9th Resignation In 48 Hours

BJP's strategy in West Bengal

Emboldened by its performance in the Lok Sabha elections, BJP has devised a booth-level strategy with stress on minute details to wrest power from the TMC in West Bengal. While senior party leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, as well as BJP chief JP Nadda, will visit the state every month till elections are held, a detailed 23-point to-do list has been set up for every booth to ensure the BJP's victory.  With an aim to make the BJP's presence felt in every neighbourhood and its campaign reach every voter, the local party workers have been asked to paint at least five locations in every polling booth area with BJP's election symbol, identify five party workers with motor cycles and make locals and party workers download the Namo App in their mobiles. It has also instructed the party workers to collect booth-wise data of results of last assembly and Lok Sabha elections which will help them in devising the strategy for their respective booths. The saffron party has emerged as the main challenger to the ruling TMC, winning 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections with more than 40 per cent of total votes. 

READ | Mamata Banerjee reacts to Suvendu Adhikari's exit: 'TMC as deep-rooted as Banyan tree'

READ | Barrackpore MLA Shilbhadra Dutta Quits TMC