Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to visit West Bengal in the last week of March to chalk out a blueprint for the 2026 Assembly elections in the state, sources said. Though the final date of Shah’s visit is yet to be finalised, it will be his first trip to the state this year.
Shah, who held a meeting with Union minister Sukanta Majumdar, the state BJP president, and Amit Malviya, national convenor of the party’s IT cell, in Delhi on Wednesday, is likely to meet all the top West Bengal BJP leaders to plan strategies for the 2026 Assembly polls.
In the last Assembly elections in 2021, the BJP had tried to bring about a saffron wave in West Bengal with many senior leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, visiting the state several times. But the BJP could not stop the Trinamool Congress from coming to power for the third time after it won 214 seats out of the total 294.
Sources said the party will be looking to plug the gaps in its last Assembly campaign and is likely to raise issues like fake voters, infiltration from Bangladesh, corruption, unemployment, women’s safety, etc.
On Wednesday, Shah called for a concerted effort to ensure the “election of a BJP government in the 2026 state elections with two-third majority”, and asserted that this was the only way to address the pressing issues of corruption and infiltration.
Shah also outlined the party’s objective to secure a two-thirds majority in the next Assembly elections. “We have to form the next government in Bengal in 2026 with a two-third majority,” he said.
Shah had last visited West Bengal in October 2024 when he launched the BJP’s membership drive in the state and set a target of getting 1 crore members.
Apart from Majumdar, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, former MP Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul and others attended the meeting.
Recently, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) held a two-day coordination meeting or ‘Samanya Baithak’ where several strategies were discussed to strengthen the BJP’s base in the state before the Assembly elections, according to sources. Discussions were held on how far the state BJP had reached in achieving its target of 1 crore members in West Bengal.
Sources said RSS leaders present in the meeting also enquired about the districts where the BJP was facing challenges attracting voters and enquired if the RSS could play any role in such places. Instructions were also given to celebrate Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti on a grand scale across West Bengal, sources added.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had visited West Bengal on a 10-day tour for organisational work last month.