Shah may hold rally in Raidighi this weekend, launch BJP poll manifesto | Kolkata News

Kolkata: Union home minister Amit Shah is likely to release BJP’s manifesto for the 2026 Bengal assembly polls when he visits the state by the end of this month. Shah is expected to hold a rally at Raidighi in South 24 Parganas on March 28, though the date is yet to be confirmed by his office.BJP’s national president Nitin Nabin will also reach Kolkata on Tuesday morning for a two-day visit to Bengal.During his March 2 meeting in South 24 Parganas during Bengal BJP’s ‘Parivartan Yatra’, Shah had announced a comprehensive roadmap focused on employment generation and implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission.Bengal BJP sources on Monday said they were in touch with Shah’s office for the Raidighi rally. The opposition party has already issued “charge sheets” on Trinamool’s performance in each of the state’s 294 constituencies.According to sources, BJP is likely to retain all the dole schemes being run by the Bengal govt. “We are expecting an increase in allocation in the welfare schemes aimed for women, the elderly and youth,” said a Bengal BJP neta. The party has already announced a special package of Rs 5,700 crore for women.The manifesto will also contain BJP’s “commitment” to rapid industrialisation in the state and investments in heavy industries. The govt will need to acquire land for industry, farmers will get three times the market price and the solatium amount will be doubled. Apart from that, farmers will get a share in the project, the sources said.BJP is likely to propose a white paper on TMC’s “misgovernance” over the last 15 years. The committee that drafted the manifesto suggested that the reservation policy in jobs should also be reviewed. More “Agniveer” camps will be organised in Bengal to encourage more participation in the armed forces. Nabin, scheduled to reach Kolkata at 9.45am on Tuesday, will hold meetings with workers and netas from nearly 110 constituencies in the Howrah, Hooghly, Midnapore and Kolkata zones to prepare a “zonal strategy”. Later, he will meet BJP’s social media and IT cell representatives and discuss the party’s poll narrative.While Nabin will meet state functionaries both on Tuesday and the day after, he will hold a special session with some senior netas on Wednesday. He will also meet the election management team and morcha heads.Santosh Pathak, former Cong neta, joins BJPFormer Congress neta from north Kolkata Santosh Pathak joined BJP on Monday, raising speculation about his inclusion in the candidate list. Pathak, a four-time councillor from ward 45 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, fought from the Chowringhee seat on a Congress ticket in 2021.“Trinamool tried to loot votes from my ward in the 2021 polls, but failed. In the past five years, BJP has strengthened itself, and this time it will dislodge the govt in Bengal. I fought on a Congress ticket multiple times, but it could not counter TMC’s violence and manipulation,” Pathak said.When asked about the possibility of Pathak being fielded from Chowringhee, Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said: “For Pathak, Congress is a past. He has joined BJP, and the party will decide on the next step.”