Don't fear negative politics; people are with us: Mamata

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee urged her leaders and partymen to focus on highlighting the development that has been carried out in the past one decade rather than cow down to negative politics.

She held a core committee meeting at her Kalighat residence on Friday evening. Party's secretary general Partha Chatterjee, president of TMC's youth wing Abhishek Banerjee, veterans like Subrata Mukherjee and Subrata Bakshi were present.

The Trinamool Congress is not going to attach any importance on those leaders who have left the party, she said. "Don't concentrate on negative politics. Be positive and work seriously," she reportedly told her leaders.

In the past 24 hours, three sitting MLAs — Suvendu Adhikari, Jitendra Tiwari and Shilbhadra Dutta have left the party. Rumours are that Adhikari might join BJP on Saturday morning at the meeting to be presided over by Union Home minister Amit Shah. On the eve of the meeting, his security has been beefed up to 'Z' category.

Terming those who have left the party as a "burden" and maintaining that their move to other parties will bring good for the TMC, Banerjee stated: "We are least concerned about who comes and goes. We should leave no stone unturned to ensure our victory in the 2021 Assembly elections," she told the leaders.

Banerjee has made it crystal clear that the main agenda for the 2021 Assembly elections will be all-round development of the state under the TMC. The party's leaders are holding press conferences at the Trinamool Bhavan every day to highlight schemes that have brought enormous good to the people, covering all sections of the social strata.

Kanyashree and Sabuj Sathi projects have helped girls to carry on with their education from Class VIII to the Post-Graduate level while Sabuj Sathi has successfully brought down the number of school dropouts particularly girls in the semi-urban and rural areas. The state government has distributed more than a crore bicycles among the students of state-run, aided and sponsored schools along with the madrasas. Both these schemes have brought international recognition.

The income of farmers has gone up three times in Bengal and the state government is paying the crop insurance premium. Schemes have been made to look after the kendu leaf collectors. Those above 60 years who are living below the poverty line are getting Rs 1,000 as a pension.

The most remarkable achievement of the state government in the past one decade has been the free medical treatment in state-run healthcare establishments. Complicated surgical interventions like heart and kidney transplantations are done free of cost.

The newly introduced 'Duare Sarkar' has witnessed tremendous response with more than a crore people visiting the camps and enrolling themselves for various projects in the past two weeks. Swasthya Sathi cards will be issued in the name of the senior-most women member of the family and the state government will pay the health insurance premium worth Rs 5 lakh per family.

"Don't be afraid. People are with us and they will vote for the party that stands beside them in times of need," she reportedly told the leaders who attended the core committee meeting.