kolkata: In a significant stride towards further strengthening connection with the people, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is reaching out to the people in those booths where its performance had not been satisfactory in the last elections. The top brass of the leadership has prepared a roster for the district leaders regarding their booth visits so that they interact with the people and garner their support for the ensuing Panchayat elections.
"The aim behind this initiative is to speak to the people and find out what went wrong on our part and accordingly take measures to address them,"a senior TMC leader said. According to sources in the TMC, such an initiative has kicked off from North 24-Parganas, which has as many as 33 Assembly constituencies and five parliamentary constituencies.
Special emphasis has been given on Bongaon district. The booths where the Trinamool Congress had lagged behind in the last Assembly and Parliamentary elections have been identified and the roster for the MPs and MLAs have been prepared accordingly so that they can reach out to the common people. The leadership has also identified some leaders against whom there have
been complaints and they have been kept out of this people-connect programme.
It has been analysed that arrogant attitude on the part of some local leaders have led to the people getting aggrieved with the party and voting against them. So now, the leaders would make booth-wise visit to the villages and if needed will admit mistakes made earlier and convince them of remedial measures and the various pro-people schemes of the TMC-led state government, sources said.
In Bongaon and Barrackpore, the BJP had won during the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. However, Arjun Singh—who had won on BJP's ticket in 2019 parliamentary polls—has joined TMC in May 2022. In the 2021 Assembly elections, Bongaon was one of the organisational district where TMC's performance was not satisfactory as compared to the other parts of the district
"It is not possible for an MLA or an MP to be present in his/ her constituency all the time. So it is the local leaders who keep in touch with the common people. If there is any issue about their action or behaviour, it gets reflected in the ballot box, the analysis of the 2021 Assembly polls result has revealed that. So
we have already started reaching out to people,"a senior district leader said.