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Eye on election: TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee sets up team to visit Tripura every month
The TMC, after returning to power in West Bengal for the third consecutive term with a sweeping victory in the recently held assembly elections, is now eyeing Tripura where assembly polls are due in 2023
With an eye on the Tripura assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) national general secretary and chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee has set up a team comprising senior leaders who will be camping in the northeastern state every month.
The team comprises veterans, including ministers such as Bratya Basu and Moloy Ghatak, members of Parliament such as Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, trade union leader Ritabrata Banerjee, former legislator Samir Chakraborty and other senior leaders such as party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.
“TMC leaders will be camping in Tripura to help the party expand its base ahead of the elections. Abhishek Banerjee himself went to Tripura earlier this week. This will help boost the party’s grassroot level infrastructure and let them know that senior party leaders are standing beside them,” said a TMC leader, requesting anonymity.
The TMC, after returning to power in West Bengal for the third consecutive term with a sweeping victory in the recently held assembly elections, is now eyeing Tripura where assembly polls are due in 2023. The state is currently ruled by BJP - Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (BJP-IPFT) alliance.
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After achieving a resounding victory over the BJP in the recent West Bengal assembly elections, the TMC renewed its contract with Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), the company launched by election strategist Prashant Kishor, till the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha polls in which Mamata Banerjee wishes to see her party play a bigger role in national politics.
Recently, a team comprising Basu, Ghatak and Ritabrata Banerjee visited Tripura after the Tripura Police purportedly confined the I-PAC team. Ghatak and Basu again went to Tripira ahead of Abhishek Banerjee’s visit.
Abhishek Banerjee, who is seen as the in-charge of the party’s expansion plans, announced in June this year that they plan to expand their base in other states ahead of the 2024 national polls to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
For the first time, the TMC observed Martyr’s Day - the party’s flagship programme – in Tripura, Delhi and a few other states on July 21.
“The TMC’s state unit in Tripura will be changed and the new set up will be announced in the next few days. Later, the district and block presidents will also be appointed. The party has plans to set up booth committees by December this year,” the TMC leader quoted above said.
The BJP, however, said that the TMC has hardly any presence in any state outside Bengal.
“The TMC doesn’t have any presence in any state. Let them first form their base. They can think of elections later. It is a democratic country, and anyone can go anywhere. But this is just a gimmick to divert attention from the NHRC report,” said Samik Bhattacharya, BJP spokesperson in West Bengal.
