Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing a rally in West Bengal’s Thakurnagar to kickstart the BJP’s campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

He will address two rallies in the state, first at Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas, and the second at Durgapur. PM Modi is expected to launch a nearly 300-km-long electrified section of the railways. He will also inaugurate a 20-km-long Hijli-Narayangarh line.

PM Modi will also launch the electrification of the 294-km-long Andal-Sainthia-Pakur-Malda and the Khana-Sainthia sections. This will ease the transportation of coal, stone chips and ballast to north and northeast India in a seamless manner, a statement said.

The venues of both the rallies have political significance. Thakurnagar, which is one of the venues, is the hub of the sizeable Matua community, who originally hail from erstwhile East Pakistan and began migrating to West Bengal in the beginning of the 1950s mostly due to religious persecution. The rally venue is near the house of Matua matriarch Binapani Debi.

The Durgapur rally of the PM Modi will be part of BJP’s ‘Ganatantra Bachao’ (save democracry) programme in the state. The industrial hub of Durgapur is near the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency held by union minister Babul Supriyo.

Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) had on January 19 organised a mega opposition rally which was attended by leaders of 24 parties from across the country, including the Congress.

With inputs from NDTV