Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will hold a mega administrative and distribution programme at Singur in Hooghly district on Wednesday, January 28.
The event is being seen as a counter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally at the same venue on January 18.
According to party sources, Banerjee is expected to chair an administrative meeting and distribute benefits under various state welfare schemes. She is likely to disburse the first instalment for the construction of pucca houses under the state’s rural housing scheme, ‘Banglar Bari’, which is expected to benefit around 16 lakh families.
Sources said the Chief Minister may also use the occasion to send out a political message, either through a separate party rally or by weaving political remarks into her address at the public programme.
The responsibility of organising the event has been entrusted to state minister and Singur’s “son of the soil” Becharam Manna, who has been overseeing preparations through site inspections and organisational meetings. “I have heard that the chief minister will hold a meeting here on January 28, but the details and nature of the programme are yet to be finalised,” Manna said.
Party leaders said Banerjee is expected to strongly refute allegations raised by the Prime Minister on law and order and development, while highlighting the state government’s welfare delivery, industrial growth and investment initiatives.
She is also likely to sharpen her attack on the Union government over alleged financial deprivation, including the withholding of MGNREGA funds and the non-release of central assistance for housing schemes. By underlining that ‘Banglar Bari’ is being funded from the state’s own resources, Banerjee is expected to emphasise what the Trinamool Congress describes as discrimination against West Bengal.
The state government has approved a Rs 500-crore warehouse project on 11.35 acres in Singur. An agro-industrial park is also coming up on eight acres of land, to be implemented by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC).
Singur remains politically significant as the epicentre of the 2006–07 land movement that led to a change of power in the state. From the same ground earlier this month, Modi attacked the state government and claimed investment would flow into Bengal only if law and order improved. However, no new industrial project or investment was announced at his rally, a point that Trinamool leaders said caused disappointment locally.