Kolkata, April 14 (IANS) Amid the crucial two-phase Assembly elections in West Bengal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be participating in as many as five political programmes in the state on Tuesday.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will begin his campaign journey in the state with three programmes throughout the day.

The Union Home Minister’s programme will include four public meetings and one roadshow. The public meetings include two at Manikchak and Gazole in minority-dominated Malda district, one at Kaliaganj in Nadia district, and Gangarampur in South 24 Parganas district.

Apart from that, he will also be participating in a roadshow in the South 24 Parganas district.

On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi’s campaign schedule includes three public rallies at Raiganj in North Dinajpur district, Chanchal in Malda district, and Samsernagar in Murshidabad district.

As per the schedule issued by the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, Gandhi will arrive at Purnia Airport in Bihar by a special flight at 11.45 a.m. and from there he will reach Raiganj by road, where he will address a public meeting at 12.30 p.m.

His next public meeting will be at Chanchal at 2.55 p.m., followed by another at Samsernagar at 3.30 p.m.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will also address three public meetings at Pingla in West Midnapore district, Tamluk in East Midnapore, and Jagatballavpur in Howrah on Tuesday.

Trinamool Congress general secretary and the party’s Lok Sabha member, Abhishek Banerjee, will participate in a roadshow at Cooch Behar and address a public meeting at Maynaguri in Jalpaiguri district during the day.

At the meeting, both the Chief Minister and the Trinamool Congress general secretary are expected to be vocal about the arrest of Indian Political Action Committee (o-PAC)’s co-founder Vinesh Chandel by Enforcement Directorate officials on Monday night in New Delhi.​

Soon after Chandel’s arrest, Abhishek Banerjee issued a social media post raising objections to the arrest in relation to the multi-core coal smuggling case in West Bengal and Jharkhand, and said that the arrest barely 10 days before the Bengal elections was not just alarming; it shook the very idea of a level playing field.

I-PAC had been operating as the vote strategy agency for Trinamool Congress since 2020.

–IANS

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