Kolkata, Oct 16 (IANS): Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be in Kolkata in the last week of this month to chalk out a strategy for the BJP's unit in West Bengal for the bypolls to the six Assembly constituencies in the state next month.

If everything goes as per schedule, the Union Home Minister is expected to arrive in the city on October 24, said a member of the state committee of BJP.

“Besides finalising the bypoll strategies for the party, he is also expected to outline specific guidelines on increasing the membership strength of the party in West Bengal,” the state committee member added.

As per the schedule fixed so far, Shah will arrive in Kolkata on October 24 and the same day he will hold a meeting with the elected MPs and MLAs as well as top leaders of the party from the state.

The bypolls are extremely crucial for both Trinamool Congress and BJP, as these will be held amid the agitations over the ghastly rape and murder of a junior doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata within the hospital premises in August.

“The new membership drive in West Bengal has been halted for the last two months in the wake of the R.G. Kar crisis. Now we are waiting for the guidelines by the Union Home Minister both on this count as well as the strategy for the forthcoming bypolls,” the party’s state committee member said.

The six Assembly constituencies where the bypolls will be held on November 13 are Sitai in Cooch Behar district, Madarihat in Alipurduar district, Naihati and Haroa in North 24 Parganas, Medinipur in West Midnapore district, and Taldangra in Bankura district.

The counting will be on November 23.

All these six constituencies fell vacant as the sitting MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. Barring Madarihat seat, which was with the BJP, the Trinamool Congress had won the remaining five in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls.