Battle of the bigwigs on April 3: Modi and Mamata to address public meetings in north Bengal on the same day

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will address public meetings in north Bengal on the same day, April 3.

While PM Modi will address a public meeting in Siliguri, on the same day, Banerjee will address a meeting in Dinhata, 170 km apart. Siliguri spans the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts, while Dinhata is in Cooch Behar.

Banerjee was earlier scheduled to begin her election rallies in West Bengal from April 4, but later it was rescheduled with April 3 being the first of her series of 100 rallies in West Bengal and elsewhere. On March 31, she addressed a gathering on the same platform as some other national leaders like N Chandrababu Naidu, Arvind Kejriwal, in Vizag.

The rescheduling of Banerjee’s meeting in Dinhata is being considered as a major step taken to present a direct challenge to PM Narendra Modi. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s national leadership is taking Bengal very seriously, and PM Modi is visiting the state thrice within a week.

On April 3, after the Siliguri rally, Modi will address a meeting in Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground. On April 7, he will be in Cooch Behar, and on April 10, Modi will address another rally in Balurghat.

Banerjee on the other hand, will address a public rally in Dinhata on April 3, another one in Mathabhanga (also in Cooch Behar) on April 4 and a third one on April 5 in Nagrakata in Jalpaiguri.

West Bengal will go for the first phase of polls on April 11 in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar. In the second phase, on April 18, there will be vote in three more constituencies – Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, Raiganj.