Bengal to witness clash of Titans as Mamata and Amit Shah to address rallies in same district Thursday

A head-to-head political battlewill play out on Thursday in Kolkata neighbouring South 24Parganas district where Home Minister Amit Shah and WestBengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee are scheduled to addressindependent rallies separated by some distance.

For the first time in the high octane political season inpoll-bound West Bengal, Banerjee and Shah will be holdingrallies in the same district and more or less at the same timein the afternoon.

Shah is scheduled to arrive in Bengal tonight on a two-dayvisit starting from Thursday.

He is scheduled to visit Kakdwip area near Sagar Islandin South 24 Parganas district, where he will flag off thefinal leg of the five phases Rath Yatra of the BJP in thestate.

''He will arrive in Kolkata tonight. On Thursday he willvisit Kapil Muni Ashram. From there he will go to Namkhanawhere he will address Poribartan yatra,'' a senior state BJPleader said Wednesday.

Shah is also scheduled to have lunch at the residence of amigrant labourer and later take part in a roadshow, he said.

Meanwhile, Banerjee and his nephew Abhishek Banerjee, whois also local party MP, is slated to address party workersmeeting at Pailan in South 24 Parganas on Thursday.

''It will be a politically important day tomorrow. BothShah and Didi will address rallies in the same district,'' asenior South 24 Parganas TMC leader said.

After having a limited presence in the politicallypolarised Bengal for decades, BJP has emerged as the mainrival of the ruling Trinamool Congress by winning 18 of the 42Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2019 general elections, onlyfour less than the TMC tally of 22.

With the BJP's strength increasing in the state in thelast few years, its leaders are upbeat that the party will beable to end Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's 10-year rule inthe state polls.

Election to the 294-member state Assembly is expected inApril-May this year.