Union home minister Amit Shah's visit to Bengal this week, his first trip to the state since the Lok Sabha election results, was cancelled because of the forecast of Cyclone Dana, which is likely to make landfall between Puri and Sagar Island later this week.

Shah was scheduled to reach Calcutta on the night of October 23 and was expected to attend a series of programmes, including a meeting of the BJP's extended state committee in Calcutta.

Besides the political meetings, Shah was scheduled to meet 3,000 farmers from various agrarian districts in Hooghly's Arambagh on Thursday in his capacity as the Union cooperation minister.

"We have been informed by Amit Shahji's secretariat that his visit has been called off because of the Cyclone Dana forecast. We have been assured that the meeting will be rescheduled soon, although it will not be possible before Divali," said a senior BJP leader.

According to the meteorological department's warnings, Dana is likely to cross the north Odisha and Bengal coasts between Puri and Sagar Island on the night of October 24 or early morning of October 25 as a "severe cyclonic storm".

A section of BJP leaders considered the cancellation of Shah's meeting a loss for the organisation as the No. 2 in the Narendra Modi government was expected to prepare his party colleagues in Bengal for the next course of action at a time when the public anger over the junior doctor's rape and murder has beset the Mamata Banerjee government.

Additionally, byelections are scheduled to be held for six Bengal Assembly seats, where the BJP has already announced its candidates. Shah was expected to guide the leaders on campaign strategies. He was also likely to discuss the reasons behind the BJP's unimpressive performance in the general election this year, where the party won only 12 seats, six fewer than in 2019.

"At least half a dozen proposed visits of Amit Shahji's have been cancelled in recent memory. It's very tough for someone like him to reschedule a meeting once it's cancelled. However, this time it’s for a cyclone, so there's nothing we can do, apart from regretting it," said a BJP leader.

In January this year, Shah had cancelled his proposed Bengal visit because of a political development in Bihar when Nitish Kumar switched sides again.

In April, Shah had to call off his campaign rally in Darjeeling as his helicopter couldn't land because of inclement weather.

Senior BJP leaders said though Shah would be unable to visit Bengal, the extended state committee meeting of the BJP would be held at the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, where MPs, MLAs, and state and district leaders are invited.

"We will hold the extended state committee meeting as scheduled. Senior leaders like Bengal minder Sunil Bansal and Mangal Pandey will lead the meeting," said BJP's chief spokesperson for Bengal, Samik Bhattacharya.

However, the programme in Hooghly's Arambagh, where Shah was expected to meet around 3,000 farmers in his role as the Union cooperation minister, will not take place as it was a central government programme.

On Monday, decorators removed the material brought to set up the pandal for Shah's meeting with the farmers from Kalipur ground in Arambagh.

"We have been informed that the programme will not take place on October 24. We have already begun informing the farmers about this development," said Biman Ghosh, the BJP president of the Arambagh organisational district.