Mamata, Modi to start campaigning for LS in Bengal on same day

Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will launch their Lok Sabha campaigns in West Bengal on the same day - Wednesday. Modi is slated to address two rallies in opposite parts of the state - Siliguri in north Bengal and in Kolkata, BJP sources said.

Banerjee, on the other hand, will kick off her party's poll campaign with a public rally at Dinhata in Cooch Behar district, also in the northern part of the state. The prime minister's first rally on Wednesday at Siliguri will be held at a ground belonging to the Railways near New Jalpaiguri railway station.

The second public meeting is slated at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata. Modi will address two more rallies in north Bengal on April 7 and 10, party sources said.

Banerjee was initially scheduled to kick off her poll campaign from April 4 but it was advanced by a day in a plan not to cede even an inch to the BJP, as Modi is holding two rallies that day, a senior Trinamool Congress leader said. TMC sources said Banerjee will be addressing at least two rallies in each of the 42 constituencies of the state.

She is likely to address 100 rallies across the state starting from April 3 to May 17.