Kolkata, Dec 30 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a visit to West Bengal, has directed state leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to maintain a positive language during the mass outreach programmes in the run-up to the 2026 Assembly polls in the state.

Immediately after arriving in Kolkata on Monday night, he attended a meeting with the party’s state core leadership. In that meeting, he stressed that the mass outreach programmes as part of the poll campaign should convey a message to the people that the BJP is ready to fulfil all the mass aspirations by ending the 15-year current Trinamool Congress regime in the state, confirmed a senior state leader of the party who refused to be named.

In fact, the Union Home Minister gave a social media message on Monday night expressing confidence in a regime change in West Bengal after the 2025 West Bengal Assembly elections. “West Bengal is totally prepared for a change. I have reached West Bengal on a three-day visit. I am overwhelmed by the warm welcome received from the party workers at the airport,” Shah said in his social media message.

In his message, the Union Minister also said that on Tuesday, he will have a more detailed discussion on the Assembly elections in the state at a meeting with the core groups. On Wednesday, he will have a meeting with the party’s elected MPs and MLAs in the state and interact with the workers in the Kolkata metropolitan area.

HM Shah is scheduled to address the media on Tuesday, where he is likely to share details of the meeting he had with the core party leaders in the state on Monday night, immediately after he arrived in Kolkata.

On Monday, Shah had two sets of meetings that continued almost till midnight. In the first meeting, 26 top state leaders of the party were present. In the second meeting, Shah interacted with a smaller team of 10 central and state leaders of the party who are at the helm of organisational affairs in West Bengal.

However, keeping in mind the ongoing festive mood ahead of the New Year celebrations, the Union Home Minister will not be addressing any public meetings or rallies, nor will he participate in any road shows during his three-day visit.

He will leave for New Delhi later in the evening on December 31.

–IANS

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