Mamata convenes TMC working committee meet
Kolkata: Ahead of the declaration of Panchayat poll dates, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee is likely to hold a working committee meeting of the party, this week, where a strategy for the polls will be drawn up.
The election body is yet to sound the poll bugle but the ruling and the Opposition parties have already begun planning for the election that is likely to determine the fate of the Panchayat bodies in the state in the days to come.
If the words of the party insiders are anything to go by then most of the heavyweight Trinamool Congress leaders have been intimated of this meeting that is likely to be held towards the end of this week, most likely on Friday. TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee will also remain present at the meeting.
The meeting will be chaired by the TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee who is likely to issue directions to her party leaders concerning the responsibilities that need to be fulfilled by the party machinery for election purposes. TMC sources said this meeting is crucial because the strategy will include discussing potential candidates to contest the polls at a time when the Opposition parties have been training their guns at the ruling party amidst the teacher recruitment corruption which led to the arrest of some TMC members. Recently, TMC lost the Sagardighi bypoll seat to Congress.
The poll strategy will also include how the ruling party will campaign. A source said that the recent visits to villages under the ‘Didir Suraksha Kawach’ campaign by TMC leaders and workers to hear the woes of the people have greatly moved the grassroots section.
“The responses have been overwhelming. The Opposition parties tried to undermine the campaign and mislead people by floating false narratives but forgot that to win the trust of the people you need to be near them and listen to their woes,” said the source.
What is now left to be determined is when the Panchayat polls can be held. The Calcutta High Court, last month, asked the state government not to announce the election in the wake of a PIL filed by the Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari asking for a delay of the poll announcement for various reasons. As per the court’s instructions, the election cannot be announced till March 9.
