West Bengal elections 2021 updates: BJP to form govt in Bengal with over 200 seats, says Amit Shah

PM Narendra Modi is set to visit the Matua temple at Orakandi in Bangladesh on March 27, the second day of his two-day trip to the neighbouring country. Matua face and BJP Bongaon MP Shantanu Thakur will be at Orakandi during Modi’s trip, the first such visit by an Indian PM. Most seats where the Matuas have considerable influence will go to polls in the fifth phase (April 17) and seventh phase (April 26).

Union jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday expressed doubt over the incident in which West Bengal chief minister was injured during her poll campaign, and sought to know whether it was engineered.

"We're going to Nandigram to tell people that crops are not being purchased at MSP. We'll appeal to them not to vote for BJP as they've robbed entire country," said BKU leader Rakesh Tikait

West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh on Saturday said that the party has to fulfil its long- cherished mission of winning the state not only to expand its ideological footprint but also to secure India's eastern borders, which have turned into a "transit point for terror elements" trying to create unrest in the country.

Union home minister Amit Shah will be on a two-day visit to poll-bound Assam and West Bengal from Sunday during which he will address public meetings and attend other political programmes. The BJP said Shah will address two public meetings at Margarita and Nazira in Assam on Sunday. He will then leave for Bengal where he will hold a road show in Kharagpur in the evening. On Monday, Shah will address public meetings at Jhargram and Ranibandha in West Bengal before flying to Guwahati where he will address a Town Hall programme, the BJP said.

Sinha, a senior BJP leader during Atal Bihari Vajpayee rule, told reporters it was call of the hour to ensure TMC win the assembly elections with a thumping majority which will herald defeat of Modi government in 2024 Lok Sabha polls and save the country.

"The report submitted by the West Bengal government appeared to be quite sketchy and without any details of the incident like how it happened or who could be behind it. We have asked the state administration to furnish more details," an EC official said. The state government's report submitted to the ECI on Friday evening referred to the presence of a huge crowd at the spot but has no mention of the "4-5 people", who Banerjee alleged had attacked her, he said. The chief secretary has been asked to furnish details like how the incident took place and who could be behind it by Saturday, he said.

Sinha, who served in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had quit BJP in 2018 after serious differences with the party leadership. His son Jayant Sinha is the BJP MP from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.

Days after quitting Communist Party of India (Marxist), youth leader Sankar Ghosh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday in Siliguri ahead of West Bengal Assembly elections. Ghosh was the former CPMSecretariat member for the Darjeeling district and the member of the Board of Administrators at the Siliguri Municipal Corporation.