West Bengal: Narendra Modi set to address rally in Uttarpara on Sunday

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems keen on making its presence felt in West Bengal in a big way with its prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi set to visit Uttarpara in Hooghly district to campaign for two party candidates on Sunday, three days ahead of state's third phase of the five-phase Lok Sabha election.

Narendra Modi waves to supporters as he arrives in an open vehicle to file his nomination in Varanasi on Thursday, April 24, 2014. AP Photo

This will be Modi's third visit to the state. In the first visit he and party president Rajnath Singh reached out to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, but on his second visit he launched an attack on the Bengal chief minister.

On April 27, the two BJP candidates Modi will campaign for are Bappi Lahiri (Serampore) and Chandan Mitra (Hooghly), state BJP president Rahul Sinha told a daily. Sinha expects the Modi rally to boost the morale of party workers in the state.

So far, Modi has addressed rallies in Kolkata and Siliguri on February 5 and on April 10.

Narendra Modi, center, waves to supporters as he arrives in an open vehicle to file his nomination in Varanasi on Thursday, April 24, 2014. AP Photo

According to reports, Lahiri is giving trouble to Trinamool Congress candidate Kalyan Banerjee. In Hooghly, Ratna De Nag of the Trinamool Congress takes on BJP's Chandan Mitra.

Modi has scaled up his diatribe against Mamata government during the last few weeks. From securing only six per cent votes in the 2008 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP now looks at a figure of 15 per cent of the votes, banking on Modi wave as it hopes to get 10-12 seats.

Reports say the BJP poll managers are finalising Modi's visit in Bengal for next three phases poll on April 30, May 7 and May 12.