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With eye on state elections, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to visit Goa today
Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to begin a three-day maiden visit to Goa on Thursday. A TMC leader said she is expected to reach Goa on Thursday evening. She will be camping in the state until Saturday
Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to begin a three-day maiden visit to Goa on Thursday with an eye on giving the Trinamool Congress (TMC) party a foothold in the state ahead of elections early next year for the 40-seat assembly.
A senior TMC leader said the party supremo is expected to reach Goa on Thursday evening. She will be camping in the western state until Saturday.
“She is likely to hold talks with various parties in the state and meet local communities. A few noted personalities are expected to join the TMC during her stay,” said the TMC leader without divulging details.
The ruling TMC in Bengal, after retaining power with a sweeping victory in the assembly polls for the third consecutive time in May this year, has started expanding its base in other states.
The party has already made inroads in Tripura with an eye on the assembly polls scheduled for 2023.
Ahead of her Goa visit, Mamata Banerjee urged political parties to unite against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its “divisive agenda”.
“As I prepare for my maiden visit to Goa, I call upon all individuals, organisations and political parties to join forces to defeat the BJP and its divisive agenda. The people of Goa have suffered enough over the last 10 years,” Mamata Banerjee tweeted recently.
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In September, the TMC had sent a team of senior party leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien and Lok Sabha MP Prasun Banerjee, to Goa to assess the political situation before taking the plunge.
Former Goa chief minister and veteran Congress leader Luizinho Faleiro has already joined the TMC. Last week, the party appointed Faleiro as its vice-president less than a month after of joined.
Earlier this month, boxer Lenny Da Gama and footballer Denzil Franco joined the TMC party.
Political strategist Prashant Kishor has been working with members of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) team to boost the TMC’s footprint in Goa and help build its image in the state.
Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who was appointed as the party’s national general secretary earlier this year, announced recently that the TMC will expand its presence in at least five states apart from Goa and Tripura, and set up working units in 15 other states ahead of the 2024 general elections.
Ahead of Banerjee’s Goa visit, the TMC party had released what it called a “charge sheet” against the ruling BJP government in Goa, accusing it of overseeing a “double-engine disaster” in the coastal state.
