NEW DELHI: With West Bengal going to the polls next year in what is being branded as the mother of all elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually greet the people of the state on Thursday on the occasion of 'Shoshthi', when Durga Puja festivities officially kickstart in the state.
The BJP is calling it 'Pujor Shubhechha' (Puja Greetings) from the Prime Minister.
At the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC) in Kolkata, where the Prime Minister's address will be live streamed, a special performance will be presented by danseuse Dona Ganguly, reigniting a long standing theory that the BJP is eyeying to rope in her husband and BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly for next year's Assembly polls. Though both Ganguly and the BJP had earlier played down such a buzz.
The Bengal unit of the BJP has already made arrangements for live streaming the Prime Minister's address in all the 294 Assembly constituencies of the state.
As soon as the PMO confirmed the Prime Minister's availability, the Bengal BJP sprung into action by activating its ecosystem of booth level workers. In fact, all the booth committees have been instructed to ensure the live streaming of the PM's address in their respective polling booths.
In the absence of BJP state unit chief Dilip Ghosh, who is currently admitted to a hospital after testing positive for Covid-19, the show is being run by the party's Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya and Arvind Menon.
On Wednesday afternoon, both Vijayvargiya and Menon were present at the EZCC to oversee the preparations. Mukul Roy, who has been recently promoted to the post of national Vice President of the BJP, is micro managing every detail for Wednesday's event.
The event will include a cultural extravaganza that will begin from Wednesday morning to build the tempo. Sources said that Dona Ganguly, who will perform at the EZCC on Thursday, practiced for the D-Day on Wednesday.
BJP sources said the Prime Minister's choice of attire is likely to be 'in sync with ethnic Bengali culture'.
A source in Bengal BJP said, "After tomorrow, the Trinamool will find it increasingly difficult to brand us as a party of the Hindu heartland."
In this year's flagship annual event of the ruling Trinamool Congress -- the 'Martyr's Day' -- Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that Bengal won't be ruled by "outsiders", a direct reference to the BJP.