The Bengal unit of the BJP on Thursday highlighted that projects worth over Rs 7,800 crore would be inaugurated during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Calcutta on Friday even as the Trinamul Congress accused the saffron camp of politicising a government event.
A Press Information Bureau release on Thursday said Modi would flag off the Vande Bharat express train that would run between Howrah and New Jalpaiguri, besides inaugurating the Joka-Taratala stretch of the purple line of Calcutta Metro.
The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stones of sewerage projects for Bengal worth over Rs 2,550 crore and the redevelopment of the New Jalpaiguri station.
During the visit to Calcutta on Friday, Modi will chair the second meeting of the National Ganga Council, along with chief ministers of five states — Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal. Ten Union ministers will be accompanying Modi.
“It is good news for the people of Bengal. The Prime Minister is giving them a year-end gift,” BJP MP Locket Chatterjee said on the projects that would be inaugurated by Modi at the Howrah station.
It was clear the BJP was leaving no stone unturned to ensure it could claim credit for the projects. On Thursday, a group of BJP leaders, including state president Sukanta Majumdar, minder for Bengal Mangal Pandey and Chatterjee, visited the Howrah station to oversee the preparations for the inaugural.
Sources said the BJP had asked workers from Howrah, Calcutta and the adjoining districts to flock around the Howrah station on Friday to cheer for Modi when he arrives. Invitations to 100 state BJP leaders, including MPs, MLAs and other office-bearers, have been sent.
Trinamul made it clear that while the Prime Minister was welcome, the projects had been the long-standing demands of the state government and their inauguration was the fruition of the constant pressure the state had been putting on the Centre.
“How can the BJP claim credit for these? These projects are the rights of the people of Bengal and the Prime Minister is not doing us any favour. Only because our government has mounted immense pressure on the Centre that they are being launched,” said Trinamul spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.
According to Ghosh, “the fuss” around Friday’s event is created by the saffron camp to make electoral benefits. “The people of Bengal are no fools. If the projects materialise in the future, they will know that the credit must go to the state and if they don’t, it is clear the BJP is creating a political hoax,” he added.
Although the Bengal unit was asked to make the event a grand success with proper marketing, sources in the saffron camp said a section of state leaders was unhappy with the arrangements.
At an internal party meeting on Wednesday evening, a source said, senior state leaders put pressure on central leader Mandal Pandey to ensure that leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari got to share the stage with Modi.
Their contention was that if chief minister Mamata Banerjee sits with the Prime Minister on the stage, it would be demeaning for the leader of the Opposition to sit elsewhere.
Several other BJP leaders, including two lawmakers, told this correspondent that the arrangements made on behalf of the BJP was a complete mess.
“We have been asked to receive the PM at the airport. We have also been asked to be at the Howrah station. How can we do both in such a short time?” a BJP MP asked.
Modi will be flying to the Royal Calcutta Turf Club from the airport in a helicopter. Then, his convoy will reach the Howrah station.
However, other leaders will have to travel by road to reach the Howrah station, which shall take a long time.
