Lucknow: Two days after being denied landing permission in West Bengal’s South Dinjapur district for addressing public rally, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has decided to take the road to Bengal.
The BJP has planned a rally by UP CM in Purulia on Tuesday for which CM would enter Bengal through BJP-ruled Jharkhand. CM’s office confirmed that Adityanath would leave Lucknow by a special plane for Ranchi on Tuesday and from there, he is scheduled to take a helicopter till Bokaro before taking the road to Bengal.
The route was rethought to ensure that the chief minister gets to enter West Bengal where BJP is looking to make inroads in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“Due to TMC’s decision to deny landing permission to Adityanath on Sunday, it has been decided that he would travel to West Bengal by road. Let’s see how what the terrified ‘didi’ does now,” a senior BJP leader said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is popularly referred to as ‘did’ in West Bengal and has come under attack from the BJP. The BJP claimed that denial permission for a helicopter landing reflected that she was ‘scared’ of Yogi Adityanath.
On Sunday, Yogi Adityanath addressed his two rallies in Bengal on phone after being denied the landing permission. During his address, he claimed that Banerjee government was afraid of the BJP “as it very well knows that its days in Bengal are numbered”.
Mohsin Raza, the UP government’s lone Muslim minister, tweaking a popular dialogue from film Uri asked Mamata Banerjee, “How is the ‘khauf’ (fear)?”
Apart from West Bengal, Adityanath is scheduled to address party cadres in Bihar (February 7), Uttarakhand (February 9), Kerala (February 12, 14) and Odisha (February 20).
