Kolkata Police grants permission to Amit Shah's August 11 rally
Kolkata, Aug 1 (IBNS): The Kolkata Police on Wednesday granted permission to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), to host its 'mega' rally, where BJP national president Amit Shah will be present as the chief speaker, on Aug 11 at Mayo Road in city's downtown Esplanade area, sources said.
A day after Kolkata Police allegedly denied permission to Amit Shah's Aug 11 rally which was scheduled to be held at Rani Rasmoni Road, BJYM on Tuesday submitted reapplication before the city police seeking permission to host the rally at an alternative location in the city.
In the application, BJYM also suggested five alternative places, including Victoria House, Dorrina Crossing, Metro Channel, Mayo Road or Shyambazar Five Point Crossing, to hold its mass meeting.
Earlier in the afternoon, BJP president Amit Shah dared the West Bengal government to arrest him and confirmed that he will be joining Kolkata rally.
"It does not matter whether I get permission or not, I will definitely go to Kolkata and if the state government wants, it can arrest me," Shah said.
A senior leader of BJP's West Bengal unit told IBNS, "Police has permitted us to hold the public meeting on August 11 at Mayo Road and we are all set to arrange the mega rally there."
"We are expecting that more than 5 lakh supporter-activists of BJP and BJYM will join the gathering," he added.
Earlier on Monday, BJP leaders alleged that Kolkata Police denied permission for the rally at Rani Rasmoni Road as Congress had already been granted permission to hold its political event at the same location on Aug 11, though city police officials claimed that they had received no application from BJYM.
The 'mega' rally, where BJYM's national president Poonam Mahajan will also be present, was earlier scheduled to be held on Aug 3 and later got postponed to Aug 11, party leaders said.
(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
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