Durgapur, July 17 (UNI) Exactly six years after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s visit to this industrial city of West Bengal, tomorrow has at least two purposes – one administrative and the other is political, which are both to add an extra mileage for the BJP to launch a campaign for the crucial assembly election in the next 10 months (2026).
Unlike his Alipurduar visit on May 29 last week, weeks after Indian forces’ Operation Sindoor, following the Pahalgam brutal massacre of 25 Hindu tourists.
Modi this time is expected to hold a road show at least the last 3 km stretch on the way to the venue, Nehru Stadium, from Andal airport in Purba Bardhaman.
As the final arrangements are being made to greet the PM at the venue of the Nehru Stadium around 3 PM, where two podiums have been erected side by side.
One for an official meeting and the other is political, an open rally for Modi to address the saffron brigade, which is eyeing to oust the 15-year-old MamataBanerjee government.
Sources said the PM is scheduled to unveil a series of new central projects like the gas connection of GAIL to the households in the region to ensure less emission, many national highway projects, the Damodar Valley Corporation and probably two new connectivity projects, including the Howrah-Sealdah underground stretch in Bowbazar sector and others.
” On the 18th of July, 2025, our esteemed and visionary Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji will grace theNehru Stadium in Durgapur.
He comes bearing a bouquet of development initiatives from the Central Government, dedicated to the growth and transformation of Rarh
Bengal,\\” BJP’s Asansol South Agnimitra Paul said on her X handle.
\\” This is a golden opportunity for the people of West Bengal to hear the Prime Minister’s message of progress and prosperity — a vision for a brighter, stronger future.
With deep conviction and heartfelt appeal, I personally reached out to the people of the Asansol South constituency, handing out invitations at Urnpur Bazar Road, urging everyone to join this historic rally and be a part of this movement for change,\\” the famous fashion designer turned politician said.
As part of the tentative official visit, the PM will depart from Darbhanga Airport, Bihar, at approximately 1345 hours and land at Andal Airport, Durgapur, at around 1445 hours tomorrow and then travel by road to Nehru Stadium, Durgapur.
He is expected to inaugurate various government projects from 1500 to 1530 hours and then address a public meeting before taking a return flight to Delhi around 5 pm.
The BJP’s top leadership is giving much importance to the consolidation of the party at the grassroots level in this part, as the saffron brigade did well in the 2021 assembly poll but lost its foothold in the 2024Parliament poll, losing the Asansol seat to the TMC.
In 2019, in Lok Sabha BJP did well here as in that year, Modi held his last meeting, and the saffron brigade jumped to 18 seats from a mere two in 2014. But again in the lastLok Sabha poll, it reduced to 12, 1 went to Congress and the rest to the TMC out of a total of 42.
After Rajya Sabha member Samik Bhattacharya got elected unopposed, taking the presidential post from Sukanta Mazumdar, the former is making all efforts to consolidate the organisation by making connectivity between the old and new leaders in a single fabric.
Agnimitra Paul was seen leading a home-to-home and shop-to-shop campaign among the locals to make it successful, as the BJP’s most of the leaders are campaigning to mobilise supporters as much as they can.
The top leadership, including Bhattacharya, Majumdar, Suvendu Adhikari, Dilip Ghosh and a host of regional as well as local leaders, have been invited to attendModi’s meeting.
The PM rally also has special significance as Mamata Banerjee will hold her party’s Sahid Divas rally at Esplanade on July 21, an annual event to rekindle the police firing in which 13 then Congress supporters were killed in 1993.
Sources said the SPG has already taken control of the venue, and bomb squad and sniffer dogs have been deployed to sterilise the areas.
His will be the second public rally which will be addressed by the Prime Minister in West Bengal, after Alipurduar, in the run-up to the 2026
assembly polls next year.
