The Bengal unit of the BJP wants more central leaders to visit the state in order to step up the attack on the Mamata Banerjee government in the aftermath of the arrest of Trinamul Congress minister Partha Chatterjee in connection with alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers and other employees to government-aided schools.

According to sources in the BJP, Union home minister Amit Shah is scheduled to visit the state right after the monsoon session of Parliament concludes. He is expected to visit both north and southern parts of Bengal.

“The monsoon session is supposed to end on August 14. It might get concluded earlier as well. Although we don’t have his itinerary yet, Amitji is scheduled to visit Bengal immediately after the Parliament session concludes. If more national leaders visit the state and target the Tinamul government over Partha’s arrest, the BJP can reap dividends,” a source in the state BJP said.

“We want him to begin the assault on Trinamul, which can eventually be followed by other central leaders.”

Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said there was a probability of Shah’s visit but nothing had yet been finalised.

Three Union ministers — Dharmendra Pradhan, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Rajeev Chandrasekhar — had already launched scathing attacks on chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her government.

Pradhan, the Union education minister, on Sunday said he would officially write to Mamata seeking a report on the alleged School Service Coommission recruitment scam.

“I’ve met them (the job aspirants) and told them that if these anomalies have actually taken place, then it is a matter of concern. Something must have happened and hence, even the court has intervened. I will personally write to Madame chief minister seeking a report on this issue, on behalf of the Union government,” Pradhan said.

The saffron camp is planning to expand its movement to rural Bengal as well. BJP sources said no protest or agitation would lead to political fruition unless it captured the rural pulse. Also, the issue of SSC recruitment is a fairly rural issue since a large section of the job aspirants comes from rural districts and villages of Bengal.

The CPM, which has played the role of a frontrunner when it comes to demanding justice in the SSC recruitment scam, is also planning to turn the arrest of Chatterjee and likely involvement of other Trinamul leaders in the corruption as a potential political issue ahead of panchayat polls next year.

On Sunday, in Calcutta as well as in many districts, the party took out rallies demanding the arrest of corrupt Trinamul leaders. “Chor dhawro, Jail bhawro (arrest the thieves and put them in jail)”, was the slogan raised at the rallies. Similar rallies will be taken out on Monday as well.

CPM leader and legal counsel for the job aspirants, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, alleged that Trinamul derived its prosperity from Chatterjee’s money. ‘They cannot deny that they (Trinamul) have a connection with this (the money),” he said, replying to Trinamul spokesperson Kunal Ghosh’s claim that the ruling party had no connection with the alleged corruption.