PM to Visit West Bengal Today, to Attend Govt Programme

This will be Modi’s second visit to the state during the ongoing SIR exercise and his first since the political firestorm triggered by the ED’s searches of I-PAC offices on January 8, when CM Mamata Banerjee stormed the raid site and accused the agency of trying to hijack the TMC’s election strategy at the behest of the BJP.

“The Prime Minister will arrive in Malda on Saturday afternoon. He will first attend a government program and then address a public rally nearby. He will then head to Assam. On Sunday, he will come to Bengal again, this time to Singur in the Hooghly, where he will attend a government program followed by a public rally,” a senior state BJP leader said. he said.

The Prime Minister had visited West Bengal on December 20.

The visit took place amid a bitter dispute over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls; The ruling TMC accused the BJP and the Election Commission of harassing people through this practice and claimed that voters will respond to this “harassment” at the polls.

However, the BJP defended the practice, arguing that the SIR was necessary to remove illegal immigrants and Rohingyas from the voter rolls, and claimed that the TMC’s opposition stemmed from fear of losing a large “illegal” vote bank.

According to the PIB statement, the Prime Minister will reach Malda around 12.45 pm on January 17 and flag off India’s first Vande Bharat Sleeper Train between Howrah and Guwahati (Kamakhya) from Malda Town Railway Station.

The fully air-conditioned sleeper train is expected to reduce travel time on the Howrah-Guwahati route by around 2.5 hours, boosting long-distance travel, tourism and religious pilgrimages.

At around 1.45 pm, the Prime Minister will dedicate himself to the nation and lay the foundation stone of multiple railway and road infrastructure projects worth over Rs 3,250 billion at a public event in Malda.

These include the cornerstones of four major railway projects: Balurghat-Hili new railway line, next-generation freight maintenance facilities at New Jalpaiguri, upgradation of Siliguri loco shed and modernization of Vande Bharat maintenance facilities in Jalpaiguri district.

It will also carry out electrification of New Cooch Behar-Bamanhat and New Cooch Behar-Boxirhat railway sections.

Modi will also flag off two LHB bus-equipped trains from Radhikapur and Balurghat to Bengaluru, as well as four Amrit Bharat Express trains connecting New Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar to major cities like Nagercoil, Tiruchirappalli, Bengaluru and Mumbai.

He will also lay the foundation stone of the four-lane section of Dhupguri-Falakata section of NH-31D.

The Prime Minister will visit Singur in Hooghly district on January 18, where he will inaugurate, lay foundation stones and flag off development projects worth around Rs 830 million. He will later address a public rally.

Elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly will be held in the next few months.