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Mamata Banerjee in north Bengal to boost party’s morale, counter BJP
That the Trinamool is jittery with north Bengal was also evident when the party’s youth wing president Abhishek Banerjee, CM Banerjee’s nephew, and election strategist Prashant Kishor rushed to north Bengal in October to iron out differences in the ranks.
A fortnight after Trinamool congress heavyweight and MLA from Cooch Behar (South) Mihir Goswami switched over to the BJP, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee arrived in north Bengal on Monday to boost morale of party workers and stem out any further erosion in its ranks ahead of the crucial state elections next year.
Goswami described his decision to join BJP as a “crusade against immoral and incorrect happenings” in the state, especially against “injustice” in north Bengal, a saffron stronghold.
CM Banerjee is scheduled to hold a rally in Cooch Behar (south) on Wednesday.
“This is her second district tour this month. Earlier this month she had camped in West Midnapore, West Burdwan and North 24 Parganas. Banerjee, who reached Jalpaiguri on Monday, is expected to meet party leaders of Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar districts and hold rallies with party workers over the next two days,” said a TMC leader.
That the TMC is jittery with north Bengal was also evident when the party’s youth wing president Abhishek Banerjee, CM Banerjee’s nephew, and election strategist Prashant Kishor rushed to north Bengal in October to iron out differences in the ranks.
North Bengal is crucial for both the TMC and the BJP after the latter wrested seven of the eight Lok Sabha seats in the region in 2019 and managed to win 18 of the state’s 42 seats. In terms of the 56 assembly segments in the eight seats in north Bengal, the BJP is ahead of the TMC in 35. The West Bengal assembly has 294 seats.
“She [Mamata Banerjee] has asked party leaders in the north Bengal districts to arrange for rallies with at least 20 workers from each booth. She is likely to send out some message to rebel leaders and boost the morale of booth level workers,” said a TMC worker.
Back in Kolkata, the BJP upped its ante against the ruling party in the state, publishing a brochure titled ‘TMC Fail Card’ to highlight the alleged failures and corruption of the Mamata Banerjee administration.
“Till date we have broken the law to hold rallies. Now we would violate the law to thrash you. Hospital beds would fall short,” said Dilip Ghosh, the BJP’s head in West Bengal. The BJP has alleged that at least two of its party workers were killed in North Parganas and East Burdwan since Saturday.
A few days back, the TMC had launched a report card to highlight achievements of the Mamata Banerjee government in the last 10 years. The TMC also launched a massive outreach program where leaders and workers would be visiting 10 million households with the report card.
“We need not say anything. Our achievements have been acknowledged by the union government. We have topped in providing 100-days of work. The centre has said that we have laid down the maximum village roads. We have ranked first in building houses for poor people in rural Bengal. In MSME sector we are also the topper, So what would they (BJP) tell in their failure card and how will they explain,” said Sovandeb Chatterjee, state power minister.
