Don't leave TMC for a few greedy leaders: Mamata in Junglemahal

Jhargram: If there were any doubts about the Trinamool losing ground in Junglemahal, they were dispelled on Sunday. After receiving a rapturous welcome, the chief minister Mamata Banerjee recalled the dark days when the region was in the grip of Maoist insurgency.

Banerjee said her government has showered the impoverished Jangalmahal area, which had once become a den of Maoists, with many benefits and schemes to lift their standard of life. The Jangalmahal area comprises forested areas of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura districts.

Admitting that a few local leaders of the party may be "greedy", Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee Sunday urged people not to turn their anger against them into voting against the TMC, claiming that its central leadership is above such vices.

"I cannot say 100 per cent workers of my party are good, maybe two per cent is bad and we take action against them," Banerjee said addressing public rallies in three places of Jangalmahal region.

She said a few local leaders in the region have become greedy but they have been identified and thrown out.

Banerjee urged people not to leave the TMC and go to the BJP, the Congress or the CPI(M) for the fault of a few.

Tribals constitute 38 per cent of the voting population in the area. It is said that the Mahato community may have gravitated to the BJP and Independent candidates.

The state government's decision of offering jobs to Chhatradhar Mahato's two sons triggered discontent, instead of attracting the Mahatos to the ruling party, political analysts point out.

Banerjee said her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who is the TMC youth wing president, is in the party because of his concern for her.

"Abhishek was a child when I was badly injured in an attack many years ago. Pained by my sufferings, he would roam about the house shouting slogans against the then chief minister Jyoti Basu seeking an answer on why I was attacked," the TMC supremo said.

Defending Abhishek's rise in the party, she said the new generation should come forward and join politics to give a cleaner political environment.