Hectic day of rallying looms as Mamata tries to counter Modi in Jalpaiguri, Bengal; PM and Rahul Gandhi to face-off in Hindi heartlands

A hectic day of rallying looms as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address rallies in the state of Chhattisgarh and West Bengal on Friday. PM Modi will address a public rally at Kodatarai village in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district at 11 am whereas Congress president Rahul Gandhi will kick off his party’s campaign for the Lok Sabha election in Madhya Pradesh with a farmers’ rally in Bhopal on Friday. 

The Prime Minister will then head towards West Bengal to lay the foundation stone of the four lanes (41.7 KM long) Falakata-Salsalabari section of NH -31 in the West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district, giving a fresh thrust to the BJP's campaign blitzkrieg ahead of the Lok Sabha polls amid escalating tensions with TMC chief Mamata Banerjee.

The rally, PM Modi's third in the state in a week, comes three days after Banerjee called off her sit-in protest against "politically motivated" attempts by the CBI to question Kolkata police chief Rajeev Kumar in the Saradha chit fund scam case in which several top TMC leaders are allegedly involved.

WATCH: CM Yogi Adityanath Rages At 'hooliganism' Of SP-BSP Members For Throwing Papers At The Governor In The UP Assembly 

Dramatically raising the stakes for the Lok Sabha polls, Banerjee became a rallying point for 23 anti-BJP parties who threw their weight behind her as she sat on dharna for 46 hours against the Modi government's attempts to "stifle the spirit of Constitution and federalism". PM Modi will use the platform in Jalpaiguri district, close to Bangladesh border, to give a "befitting" reply to Banerjee's accusations while trying to galvanise the party cadre for the elections.

On February 6, in yet another attempt to impede political rallies of Bhartiya Janta Party, BJP leaders Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Shahnawz Hussain were denied permission to land helicopters in the state. 

Former CM of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan was supposed to address a public rally at Kharagpur on February 6, but which seems tough as field permission to land at Kalaikunda has not been granted. Shahnawaz Hussain was also scheduled to address a public gathering at Murshidabad district’s Lalbagh area. But, similarly, like Yogi Adityanath and Shivraj Singh Chauhan, he has also been denied permission to land, putting his events at jeopardy.

Read: After Yogi Adityanath, Shivraj Singh Chouhan Makes His Way To West Bengal, Mamata Government Denies Chopper Landing Nod Again

On February 5, Yogi Adityanath was scheduled to address a rally at South Dinajpur’s Purulia district. But, as he was denied permission to land at the district and he decided to take a road trip to the venue. As per schedule, the U.P CM travelled by helicopter to Bokaro in Jharkhand, from where he commuted through a car to Purulia in West Bengal. U.P CM Yogi Adityanath reached West Bengal's Purulia and began his address. 

'Bengal is the land of Ram Krishna Parmhans and Vivekanand was his disciple who had urged us to say proudly that we are Hindus. This is the same land of Bengal which has given us Rabindra Nath Tagore who wrote the national anthem. West Bengal should be the land of BJP because it is the land of Syama Prasad Mukherjee. Mamata is anarchist and ruling the state in an undemocratic and unconstitutional way. TMC's goons are consuming poor's money here in the state", he said.

On February 3, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditiyanth had to call of his two scheduled public rallies in the state, in wake of denial of permission by the state government. Despite this, he had addressed a public rally at Balurghat in West Bengal’s district of South Dinajpur, via telephone and had called Mamata Government ‘anti-people and anti-democratic’.

"The TMC government didn't allow me to come and meet you all. That is why I had to resort to Digital India of Modi-Ji to address you. I wanted to be a part of your 'Jantantra Bachao'  campaign, however, due to the unconstitutional and anti-opposition activities of Mamata Banerjee's West Bengal government, I was barred from attending it. Prior to this episode, the TMC government had forbidden BJP's 'Jantantra Bachao Rath Yatra'. Even at that time, they stopped our BJP Chief Amit Shah Ji".