BJP reschedules its Rath Yatra in Bengal

The Bharatiya Janata Party has deferred its proposed "rath yatra" in West Bengal next month again owing to poll campaigns in other states, a party official said. BJP state general secretary Sayantan Basu said party chief Amit Shah would now kick off the "yatra" on December 7 from Coochbehar district, instead of Birbhum district, as was planned earlier. Due to the ongoing poll campaigning in five states, the party decided to reschedule the dates for the "rath yatra" (chariot march) in West Bengal, Basu said. The fresh dates were - December 7 from Coochbehar district in the north, December 9 from Gangasagar in the south and December 14 from the Tarapith temple in Birbhum district, he added. Amit Shah is scheduled to attend the programmes on all three dates. Initially, the "rath yatra" was planned to begin on December 3, 5 and 7 from Birbhum, Coochbehar and Gangasagar respectively. But the dates were rescheduled in the last week of October to December 5, 7 and 9 respectively.