Hakim given charge of Murshidabad district

Kolkata: In the wake of reports of the Union Home minister Amit Shah’s upcoming visit to Murshidabad, Trinamool Congress (TMC) has given its heavyweight leader Firhad Hakim the charge for the district where he is scheduled to hold a public meeting in a bid to solidify the party’s base ahead of the Panchayat polls.

According to sources, Hakim will soon be holding a meeting in Murshidabad; a district which the TMC had wrested from the Congress in the 2021 Assembly elections but soon lost the Sagardighi seat in the recent bypolls.

Party supremo Mamata Banerjee, after the bypolls, is learnt to have warned her party leaders there against alleged collusion between Congress and RSS which is misleading the minorities there.

Mamata’s warning also comes at a time when Shah is scheduled to hold a public meeting in Murshidabad after he arrives in Kolkata on May 8.

Sources said the BJP wants to take advantage of the Sagardighi debacle of TMC which has supposedly dented its minority vote bank.

In the wake of this development, sources said that Hakim will be starting his campaigns before the Panchayat polls and one of the districts where he will be holding a public meeting is Murshidabad.

Although there hasn’t been any official announcement regarding this, sources said that Hakim will also hold meetings in Malda and North Dinajpur where there is also a considerable number of minority voters. Hakim is scheduled to start his district tour on April 28.

Political observers in Bengal are of the opinion that Hakim has been chosen to help consolidate the minority votes which will play an essential role in the upcoming Panchayat elections.

Further, it is also being observed that this has again proved that Hakim’s role in Trinamool Congress continues to remain vital and obliterates any speculations that he might have been sidelined by the party after the controversy over the sudden withdrawal of parking fees hike by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

A party insider pointed out that Hakim has also been made part of the State Election Committee formed under the Central Election Committee for purposes of TMC’s ‘Grambanglar Motamot’ initiative.