Ahead of the Assembly polls in West Bengal, the BJP has chalked out a programme to launch a massive campaign in the state by its central leadership.
Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani and party president Amit Shah will hold rallies across the state this month, party sources said.
The campaign would start with Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari's rally at Malda in North Bengal on January 18, while Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will hold a public meeting on January 21 at Barasat near Kolkata.
Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani would address a rally at Burdwan on January 22, which will be followed by the rally of party president Amit Shah at Howrah on January 25.
The party would also organise processions, meetings and other modes of campaign statewide soon, the sources said.
Launching of the campaign by BJP senior leaders followed Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's meeting with state leaders yesterday.
Ruling out electoral alliance with any of the three major political parties in the state, Jaitley had said the party would focus on key issues to carve out its own political space on the basis of issues where the party has clarity and where unrest is brewing among people at grassroot level.
"Those who have destroyed Bengal and those who have destroyed the country are now sending signals to each other," Jaitley had said referring to talks of an alliance between Congress and the CPI(M).
On the other hand, "the ruling TMC is trying to chart out its (own) course," Jaitley added referring to the other major political force in Bengal.
Jaitley had hinted that BJP's policies on economic development and party's views to prevent infiltration into the state, besides no compromise with 'anti-national elements', could be party's key focus area in the state.
Prasad said that Singh despite being the then Prime
Minister could not save his "guru" P V Narasimha Rao from insult even in his death as the Gandhi family did not allow his body to be taken inside the Congress headquarters.
"He has his own utility. I feel pity for him... This is his tragedy," he told a press conference.
The Rao government accorded Bharat Ratna to Sardar Patel and Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad in 1991 and 1992. "Was this the reason for the manner in which they treated Rao?" he asked.
It was Rao who politically empowered Singh, who served as Finance Minister under him, to go for major reforms.
While Congress accuses Modi of criticising it on foreign soil, it was Rahul Gandhi who trashed an ordinance approved by the Singh government when the Prime Minister was in the USA on an official visit, he said.
Prasad listed out several alleged scams that happened under the UPA government to target Singh, saying he maintained silence then and was using terms like "organised loot and legalised plunder" to attack demonetisation.
Asked if his government would probe Singh's involvement, he noted that probe in several cases had begun before the NDA came to power and asserted that "we are not into witch-hunt" and law would take its own course.
He also noted that several little known people who worked for the society were given Padma awards by this government.
