Abhishek likely to begin poll campaign in Diamond Harbour after Holi

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee is likely to start an election campaign in his own constituency after Holi. He is expected to hold preparatory meetings with the leaders from seven Assembly constituencies which fall under his Lok Sabha seat.

Sources said that Banerjee may hold the meetings with these leaders separately from March 27 to 29 to chalk out a blueprint and formulate strategy to fight the electoral battle. Polls will be conducted in Diamond Harbour in the seventh phase. Banerjee had a landslide victory in 2019 Lok Sabha when he won the elections by more than 3.21 lakh votes. He has set a target of increasing the margin by 4 lakh.

Banerjee had earlier said that no Parliamentary constituency in the country can match Diamond Harbour in terms of developments. He also challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home minister Amit Shah to produce a report card to show if the development works carried by them can match his constituency. He had earlier highlighted the Diamond Harbour model and said that in the past 10 years, Rs 5580 crore work had been done in the Diamond Harbour constituency. Chorial Bridge was a five-decade-old demand which has now been fulfilled. A total of Rs 56 crore was spent where construction was done with Rs 19 crore while the rest Rs 35 to 36 crore were spent for compensating about 237 shopkeepers.

On the Diamond Harbour model, he had said after becoming an MP he did whatever he could within his limits which included development of roads in Budge Budge rural Block I and II and the Chorial Canal rehabilitation. He had also said how he fulfilled his promise of disbursing old age pension in Diamond Harbour and ensured that 70,000 people in his constituency get Rs 1,000 through direct bank transfer.