TMC tastes landslide victory in North, South Dinajpur

BALURGHAT: The state ruling Trinamool Congress has witnessed a massive victory in both South and North Dinajpur districts in the rural polls.

In South Dinajpur, out of 18 Zilla Parishad seats, Trinamool has bagged all seats, leaving other Opposition parties blank. The picture remains same for Panchayat Samities in the district as well, with all eight PS won by the party. Of the 64 Gram Panchayat seats, Trinamool has captured 42, while BJP, Left and Independents have won 9, 1 and 12 seats respectively.

In North Dinajpur, the so called Congress citadel was captured by Trinamool, where it has sprung a surprise by its near sweep in all the three tiers, deemed as a Congress belt for long. Of 26 Zilla Parishad seats, Trinamool has won 24 seats, while BJP and Left have only managed to secure 1 seat each. Of 9 PS, Trinamool has bagged 8, leaving a sole seat for Independents. Of 98 GPs, Trinamool has captured 55 seats. BJP, Left and Independents have secured 15, 2 and 26 seats respectively.

According to the political observers, the rural people have faith on Mamata Banerjee and her numerous development projects, undertaken after the party's historic landslide victory in 2011. Riding on a plethora of development projects for rural Bengal, it was just a matter of time for yet another clean sweep in favour of Trinamool Congress in both districts.

Banerjee had exhorted the district officials to expedite projects like Kanyasree, Shikshasree, Sabujsathi, 100 days' work, Mission Nirmal Bangla, rural electrification, drinking water, Khadya Sathi and many more.

Muddy roads in rural areas are now concrete ones. Rural electrification has been done in large areas of all blocks. Maximum stress has been given on rural health and hygiene, particularly for backward women and children. Special instruction has been given to rural health centres for providing necessary medical assistance. The rural beneficiaries are now receiving financial aid directly, which is unique.

"The task is not over yet. After the formation of board, we would have to concentrate on the unfinished works of the former board. As the common public is our base, the new projects would definitely have to be taken up for the all-round development of the underprivileged community," said Balurghat MP and Trinamool leader Arpita Ghosh.