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All eyes on TMC chief Mamata Banerjee’s rally in West Midnapore today
Senior party leaders said the rally would help the party leadership test the waters in the district where Suvendu Adhikari, who recently quit the Cabinet, has a support base
All eyes would be on rally of Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s rally in West Midnapore district on Monday, it being her first in the district after party heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari resigned from the Cabinet. Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would be organising a protest march to the branch secretariat in north Bengal.
Senior TMC leaders said the rally would help the party leadership test the waters in the district where Adhikari has a support base.
In 2019 bypolls, the ruling TMC made impressive gains in the assembly constituencies of Kaliaganj in Uttar Dinajpur and Kharagpur in West Midnapore. Adhikari, who was the party’s in-charge of five of the state’s 23 districts, was credited for the success.
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Interestingly, Banerjee has directed district and block level leaders from the adjacent district of East Midnapore, Adhikari’s hometown, to remain present in the rally. The TMC chief reached the district on Sunday and insiders said she has already held meeting with some of the leaders in both the districts.
“Banerjee sent out a strong signal to party rebels last week in a virtual organisational meeting with party leaders. We are all looking forward to Monday’s rally and what she has to say,” said a senior party leader.
Soon after Adhikari started distancing himself from the ruling party, the BJP have been flexing its muscles in East Midnapore district. On Saturday, Dilip Ghosh held a rally there.
Next week, Banerjee is scheduled to visit north Bengal, where BJP had made inroads in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. She would be holding rallies with booth level leaders and workers.
The party would be holding a protest march to Uttar Kanya, the branch state secretariat at Siliguri in north Bengal, on Monday, along the lines of its protest rally to the state secretariat in October.
Some of the top leaders of the BJP, including state president Dilip Ghosh, national youth wing president Tejasvi Surya and national vice president Mukul Roy, would be leading the rally.
