alipurduar: Reaching out to people during his ongoing campaign ahead of the Panchayats polls and bolstering his bond with them further, Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee left his cavalcade behind and walked for around 1.5 km from Barobisha Chowpathi to Vivekananda Club Ground in Alipurduar on Thursday morning. The ecstatic crowd had gathered since early morning to catch a glimpse of the ‘people’s leader.’
They waited patiently for Abhishek’s convoy to arrive at Barobisha Chowpathi.
Around noon, Abhishek’s convoy reached Barobisha Chowpathi from Tufanganj. As he walked for some distance, he met people standing on both sides of the service road of National Highway 31.
Thousands had gathered on both sides of the road vying for a better spot to catch a glimpse of the TMC leader. Abhishek waved at the multitude and even shook hands. He obliged by taking selfies with some of them.
Mithun Barman who had managed to take a selfie with Banerjee, said: “I never thought that Abhishek Banerjee would accept my request for a selfie. It’s a great moment of my life.”
After reaching Vivekananda Club Ground, Abhishek addressed a public rally attended by thousands from the Kumargram Constituency. After finishing his public rally, Abhishek went to Kumargram, where he garlanded the statue of Bir Birsha Munda at Kumargram Shankosh road. From there, he went to the Kumargram Tea Garden and talked to the tea workers.Manju Tirkey, a tea worker at Kumargram Tea Garden, said: “Abhishek visited our garden. We have never interacted with a leader of his stature while on a visit to our garden before. He interacted with the workers and enquired about their problems. We pray for his success.” From there, Banerjee visited the Kumargram Siva Mandir, where he offered prayers.
Banerjee addressed rallies at the Alipurduar Nabin Club Maidan in Alipurduar; Kalchini Hindi High School ground in Kalchini block. In his address, Banerjee raised issues of tea workers and laborers who work under the 100 day work scheme. “A few days ago, we raised the wages of the tea worker from Rs 232 to Rs 250. We are trying to increase wages further.”After every meeting, there was a polling for choosing TMC candidates for the forthcoming Panchayat election. After the public meeting at Kalchini, Abhishek went to the Chat Puja Ghat Ground for a night stay.