PM Modi launches Rs 3,250-cr rail projects in Bengal, targets TMC ahead of polls

Among the railway projects Modi launched is India’s first Vande Bharat sleeper train. PICs/PTI

Ahead of the upcoming state polls in West Bengal in April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched several rail and road infrastructure projects worth Rs 3250 crore in the state, including the first Vande Bharat sleeper train between Howrah and Guwahati.

At a rally in Malda in North Bengal, he virtually flagged off four Amrit Bharat Express trains, including one connecting Alipurduar with Panvel.

Modi launched the country's first set of Vande Bharat sleeper trains between Howrah and Guwahati from Malda Town railway station. The fully air-conditioned train is expected to cut travel time on the Howrah-Guwahati route by 2.5 hours. Currently, it takes nearly 18 hours.

Mamata Banerjee

On Sunday, the PM will address a keenly monitored political meeting from Singur in Hooghly district, the epicentre of the anti-land acquisition movement that propelled Mamata Banerjee to power in 2011 and reshaped the state's political landscape.

In Saturday's rally, the PM asserted that "infiltration is a very big challenge" and that even developed countries were taking firm action to remove illegal migrants. Attacking CM Mamata Banerjee, he alleged that the TMC's "syndicate" system was an "alliance between infiltrators and the ruling party".

He also accused the TMC government of blocking the Centre's welfare schemes.

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