TMC chief to hold video meet with partymen today

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee will hold a video conference with her party leaders and functionaries on Friday.

The meeting is being held at a time when the party has decided to go all-out against the fake news that the BJP is spreading on social media along with the deprivation of the Bengal government by the Centre.

In recent times, Banerjee has requested all the Opposition parties not to play "dirty politics" at a time when the state government is fighting against COVID-19 and the Amphan aftermath.

For quite some time now, the IT cell of the BJP has been uploading fake news on various social media platforms. To incite people at Telinipara in Hooghly, the cell had uploaded a video that showed clashes between two communities that took place in Pakistan.

Also, after the outbreak of the pandemic, a series of fake news items had been uploaded to highlight the failure of the state government to conduct tests.

The Trinamool Congress is holding press conferences every day in different Assembly constituencies to highlight the work done by the party to tackle the Covid crisis and the Super Cyclone. The party's rank and file have been instructed to set up WhatsApp groups to counter BJP's false allegations.

On June 2, party leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Subrata Bakshi, Partha Chatterjee, Firhad Hakim, Bratya Basu along with others took part in a meeting with the party functionaries.

The party will highlight how the Centre has deprived the state government by not giving its dues worth Rs 53,000 crore and how the ICMR had made inordinate delay in giving clearance to set up swab sample testing centres.

"We are holding press conferences as per the direction of the party but are waiting anxiously for her instructions," said a senior party leader.

Political experts said since the outbreak of COVID-19 and after Amphan struck Bengal on May 20, Mamata Banerjee had worked tirelessly to contain the spread of the disease and ensure that normal life was restored, also accompanying Prime Minister Narendra Modi who came to visit the cyclone-hit areas.

On the other hand, the BJP, due to its lack of organisational strength, chose to discredit the TMC and the state government by spreading fake news.