Union home minister Amit Shah is on a two-day visit to West Bengal to take stock of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s organizational preparedness for the 2021 state assembly election which is due in a few months. “Shah will address two rallies of BJP karyakartas, covering two of the party’s five organizational zones in each meeting. While the meeting on November 5 is in Bankura, the meeting on November 6 will take place in Kolkata,” said a senior leader.

Shah on Thursday is scheduled to pay homage to 18th century tribal leader Birsa Munda at Bankura and have lunch in a tribal family in the district. On November 6 he is scheduled to visit the Dakhsineswar Temple and have lunch with a Matua (a Dalit population in Bengal) family at Rajarhat – New Town in the northern fringes of the city. It is to be noted that the Matuas had earlier extended their support to the BJP in the 2019 elections.

Shah’s visit to the state at this stage assumes significance in its effort to sort out differences between BJP leaders who earlier worked for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and those who joined in recent years, leaving the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).