E-Paper
2023 Bengal panchayat polls: Mamata likely to launch TMC’s outreach programme on Jan 2
The outreach will be in tune with the call given by Abhishek Banerjee, TMC’s national general secretary, on reforming the ruling party in West Bengal, two senior leaders said
Kolkata: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is likely to launch an outreach programme at a public rally on January 2 and unveil her party’s road map for the panchayat polls in early 2023.
The outreach will be in tune with the call given by Abhishek Banerjee, TMC’s national general secretary, on reforming the ruling party in West Bengal, two senior leaders said, seeking anonymity.
“TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and the party’s national general secretary Abhishek is likely to make some important announcements on that day. All senior leaders, including MPs and legislators, have been asked to remain present,” said a senior lawmaker.
The TMC will be celebrating its foundation day on January 1. Mamata Banerjee formed the TMC in 1998 after breaking away from the Congress.
The panchayat elections are likely to be held early next year. The polls will be crucial as it is being seen as a litmus test both for the TMC and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
“We are expecting some announcements, which would be in line with call of a reformed TMC that has been promised by the party leadership earlier this year,” a senior party leader said. “Also. the party supremo may unveil the road map for the panchayat polls.”
Earlier in August, dozens of billboards, featuring Abhishek Banerjee, the chief minister’s nephew, had come up in Kolkata and its outskirts. The hoardings promised a new and reformed TMC in the next six months.
This is, however, not the first time that the party would be launching an outreach programme ahead of an election. Similar programmes such as ‘Didi ke Bolo’ (Tell Didi), ‘Banglar Gorbo Mamata’ (Mamata, the pride of Bengal) and ‘Bangla nijer meyekei chaye’ (Bengal wants its daughter) had earned the party rich dividends.
Even though the BJP managed to win 18 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in the 2019 general election, making deep inroads in some parts of the state, the TMC returned to power in the 2021 assembly polls for the third time in a row with a sweeping majority.
Abhishek Banerjee’s calls for a new and reformed TMC is all the more important because at least three party leaders, including two heavyweights, Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondol, have been arrested by central agencies, and allegations of corruption and nepotism have surfaced against the party during the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
The BJP, however, took a dig at the likely initiative, saying it was just an eyewash, as the TMC’s top rung is tainted.
“What new can they do when the party’s top to bottom are all corrupt? This is nothing but an eyewash. The party has bene unmasked and now the people have come to see their actual face. Hence, they are planning such stunts to win the hearts of the people,” said BJP leader Rahul Sinha.
