To review Covid situation, PM cancels Bengal visit on Friday

New Delhi: Expressing concerned at the continuous increase in Covid cases in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday announced cancellation of his visit to West Bengal on Friday for a string of rallies.

"Tomorrow, I will be chairing high-level meetings to review the prevailing Covid-19 situation. Due to that, I would not be going to West Bengal," the Prime Minister said, in a tweet.

As per party sources, Prime Minister Modi was supposed to address four rallies in West Bengal on Friday.

"As per the original schedule, two of these rallies were planned at Malda and Murshidabad on April 22 and the other two rallies scheduled in Bolpur and Kolkata on April 24. Concerned with the prevailing Covid situation, all four rallies by Modiji were rescheduled on April 23. Now, as per the Prime Minister's tweet, he is not coming to Bengal tomorrow," a West Bengal BJP leader said.

On Monday, the BJP had decided not to hold big rallies in West Bengal and announced that it would instead hold small public meetings of not more than 500 people to be addressed by Prime Minister Modi and senior central leaders. In a statement, the BJP had said that all these small public meetings will be organised in open spaces following all the Covid guidelines.

"Assembly polls in West Bengal are going on and the completion of this constitutional and democratic process is also very important. Keeping this in mind, BJP chief J.P. Nadda, has decided that only in West Bengal, small public meetings of all the central leaders including the Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be held in which not more than 500 persons will be allowed to attend," the BJP said in a statement.