Amit Shah to address rally in Malda; Start-up to LS poll

Malda: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)  National President Amit Shah is going to address first public meeting here today after the Supreme Court  refused to give a go-ahead for the party's rath yatra in West Bengal.

Mr Shah, who was recently admitted to a hospital New Delhi for swine flu treatment, is scheduled to address a rally here after the state government on Monday allowed BJP president's chopper to land at the ground opposite to Hotel Golden Park.

Mr Shah would address five political rallies in the state ahead of Lok Sabha elections starting tomorrow from here.

Earlier, the state unit of the BJP sought permission for landing of chopper from the additional district magistrate, but citing the construction work, the administration denied the permission.

In his letter, additional district magistrate of Malda has said, "As per report of the executive engineer, PWD (civil), Malda Division, up-gradation of work at Malda Airport is going on in full swing. A large quantity of fine sand, dust and GSB materials is lying all along the runway and also stacked all around the site."

Moreover, temporary helipad is not maintained properly due to this ongoing construction work. In this situation, Malda Airport is not suitable for safe landing of helicopters. Hence, granting of permission for Amit Shah's chopper is not possible," the letter read.

However, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday rejected  the accusations made by the BJP about Amit Shah's rally in West Bengal. Before leaving to North Bengal, she said at the airport that ?They are making false accusations. All permissions have been given for the programme. Some problems were there over the landing of the helicopter.?

Ms Banerjee also informed that the police had requested for the change of venue.The CM said Mr Shah gets Z-category security and assured that he would get the same here.

Meanwhile, the state BJP alleged that the Malda administration refused to allow Shah's chopper to land at the Malda air strip. They alleged that they were told that work was going on at the place.

But the district BJP unit said that in reality no work was being done at the air strip.The Trinamool Congress and its leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were afraid of the popularity of the Modi government and that is why they were creating hurdles for BJP national president Amit Shah's rally in the state, a senior BJP leader said.

Meanwhile, the BJP Malda district president said the save democracy rally will start at around 1100 hours on Tuesday and Amit Shah will take the dais at 1230 hours.

Speculations are going round that the BJP president would sound the 'poll bugle' for the coming Lok Sabha elections from the heated turf of West Bengal, which has gained more importance particularly after  Saturday's Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress-sponsored "United India" rally at Brigade Parade Ground, where several political top guns addressed the rally with a clarion call to oust the NDA Government at the Centre.

According to state BJP , Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to hold rally at Siliguri on January 28. Apart from this, as per prior schedules, he will hold rallies on January 31 at Bongaon and Thakurnagar. To capture the vote bank, the BJP leadership has decided to hold rally here.The BJP leadership has also started making preparations for the programme at Brigade on February 8.(UNI)