'If Sandeshkhali women want...': BJP state president on possible meeting with PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address a women's rally in Barasat in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on March 6, state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said on Thursday.

Majumdar said if the tortured women of Sandeshkhali express their willingness to meet the PM, the party will facilitate a meeting.

"Today, we came to know that the prime minister will be visiting the state on March 6 and will address a women's rally at Barasat," Majumdar told reporters.

Asked whether the PM will meet the women from Sandeshkhali, which is also located in North 24 Parganas, Majumdar said, "If the sisters and mothers of Sandeshkhali want to meet Modi, we will definitely arrange it." A large number of women in Sandeshkhali have accused Trinamool Congress strongman Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters of "land-grab and sexually assaulting" them under coercion.

Shajahan has been absconding after a mob, allegedly affiliated with him, attacked Enforcement Directorate officials who had gone to search his premises in connection with a ration scam on January 5.