Senior BJP leaders, including a central minister, joined party legislators in four north Bengal districts on Friday to encourage party workers and supporters to join the march to state secretariat Nabanna on September 13.

The move is seen as an attempt by the BJP to try and drive home the point that it still has a steady support base in north Bengal, where it won seven of eight Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and 30 of 54 Assembly seats in the 2021 Assembly polls.

But after that, the BJP could not secure a majority in a single municipality of the state, including north Bengal. State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari reached North Dinajpur, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Malda for public meetings and rallies.

BJP MPs and MLAs of the region accompanied them.“The Trinamul government has indulged in corruption and the law and order of the state is in shambles. We have to remove this government from the state and on September 13, we will march to Nabanna to register our protest. We want all of you to reach Calcutta and join us in the rally,” Suvendu said at a public meeting in Alipurduar.

Later in the day, Suvendu reached Jalpaiguri where he walked in a rally and spoke at another public meeting. Majumdar addressed a meeting in Raiganj.“People from north Bengal districts should join our march in large numbers. The state government has failed to develop this region,” he said.

In Malda, a minority-dominated district where the saffron camp has been accused of polarising votes, the BJP took out a rally that was stopped by police. Supporters shouted slogans and jostled with the police who put up barricades. After a while, the supporters left.Virendra Kumar, the Union minister of social justice and empowerment, reached Malda and met bidi workers and erosion victims. He also visited a de-addiction centre and a school.Trinamul leaders of the region scoffed at the day’s developments.

“The desperation of BJP leaders to get people at the so-called march shows the party’s political bankruptcy. We doubt how many people will eventually travel to Calcutta from north Bengal to attend the event,” said Nihar Ranjan Ghosh, Trinamul MLA of Chanchal in Malda.