E-Paper
Mamata likely to outline roadmap for 2024 polls at TMC’s annual event
A Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader, who did not want to be named, said they were waiting for the party chief to guide them for the battle ahead
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to outline a roadmap for the 2024 national polls at the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s annual “martyrs day” rally in Kolkata in remembrance of the 13 people killed in police firing during a protest she was a part of in 1993 against the then Left Front government.
This will be her first rally since the TMC swept the panchayat polls this month and the formation of the 26-party Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the next national election. TMC is part of the grouping along with her arch-rival Left parties. Banerjee became the chief minister in 2011 after the Left Front was ousted from power after 43 years.
Banerjee generally makes key announcements on July 21 annually as TMC observes the “martyrs day” in memory of the 13 people killed in 1993 during a Youth Congress protest. Mamata Banerjee, who was then a leader of the Youth Congress, was also injured. She quit Congress years later and formed TMC in 1998.
A TMC leader, who did not want to be named, said they were waiting for the party chief to guide them for the battle ahead. “There have been some developments on the national front over the past few days,” he said.
As the TMC, the Communist Party of India-(Marxist) or CPI(M), and the Congress are partners in the new grouping, there has been some confusion among the ground-level workers. The CPI (M) has clarified it will continue to fight against TMC in the state, which sends the third highest (42 out of 543) lawmakers to Lok Sabha. The BJP, which won 18 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal in 2019, has emerged as the main challenger to TMC, which got 22, the Congress two, and the Left Front none.
TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee said the turnout at their annual rally this year will break all previous records as thousands of the party workers and supporters started pouring into Kolkata.
The BJP, the main Opposition party, has announced protests outside the offices of block development officers against the alleged irregularities in the panchayat polls.
Violence and allegations of rigging marred the polling day. At least 55 people have been killed after the polls were announced on June 8. As many as 18 died on polling day. Post-poll clashes have continued in some places.
