LS polls: TMC to hold phase-wise meets with dist leadership from Jan

Kolkata: Keeping an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Trinamool Congress (TMC) has decided to hold phase-wise meetings with its district organisations from the beginning of next year in a bid to finalise campaign strategies.

The ruling party wants to leave no stone unturned in reaching out to as many people as possible till the time the polls are announced. It has already begun preparing the field with party insiders confirming that the visit of the chairperson Mamata Banerjee to North 24-Parganas is in a way a sort of official start for campaigns.

Recently, the BJP held several meetings under the leadership of party senior leaders Amit Shah and JP Nadda to finalise strategies.

The TMC, which aims to grab all 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal this time, has also laid out a draft plan on the activities that it will take up as part of poll preparations.

Party sources said that the TMC’s state president Subrata Bakshi will be holding such meetings in phases likely from January. As per the schedule, it will start with the districts East and West Midnapore.

TMC believes that these two are crucial ones where the party’s district organisation needs to reach to people to inform them how the BJP has been allegedly hoodwinking the people. BJP has made some inroads in East Midnapore where in the 2021 Assembly elections BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari had won the Nandigram seat against Mamata Banerjee.

Ever since the TMC and the BJP have been at loggerheads in the district.

Further, Bakshi will also hold meetings with the district leadership of Bishnupur and Bankura, among other districts. Last month, Mamata Banerjee addressed a party meeting at the Netaji Indoor Stadium where she had laid out the campaign blueprint for Lok

Sabha polls.

She has allowed the induction of new members into the party after checking their background and with the permission of Subrata Bakshi. Mamata also merged the Banga Janani brigade with the Mahila (Women) Congress of the party. Besides, Banerjee, during the North 24-Parganas visit, gave strict instructions that new members of the party would have to respect the veterans and work in coordination.