TMC to reach out to tea gardens for Madarihat by-election campaign

Alipurduar: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is set to reach all 24 tea gardens in the Madarihat Assembly Constituency within 20 days as part of its by-election campaign. The campaign kicked off on Monday, focusing on the tea garden workers, who are crucial to winning the seat. Of the 24 tea gardens, five are located in Jalpaiguri district.

Nakul Sonar, Chairman of the Trinamool Cha Bagan Sramik Union, said: “We have just 20 days for the campaign. Teams will be formed to promote TMC in every tea garden. In addition to leaders from the tea workers’ union, representatives from all branches of the party will participate. We will ensure we reach every household in the labour lines of the tea gardens.”

Rajya Sabha MP Prakash Chik Baraik added: “In Madarihat, we were behind in four Gram Panchayats (GP). This time, we will focus our efforts there. We are the only party with strong booth committees in every booth in the constituency. People remember our campaign during the Lok Sabha elections, where we made no false promises. Now, we will highlight the progress of the state government and expose the lack of work done by BJP MLAs and MPs over the past decade.” During the previous Lok Sabha elections, TMC trailed by over 7,000 votes in the Jalpaiguri’s Binnaguri and Sankwajhora segments of the Madarihat Assembly. Although there are no elections currently in Jalpaiguri district, all district leaders will be focusing their campaign efforts in these two areas.

Madarihat has long been a BJP stronghold. Manoj Tigga, Alipurduar Member of Parliament from BJP, was previously the MLA for Madarihat. However, TMC leaders claim that BJP’s popularity has significantly declined.

They believe that if 5,000 votes shift to TMC in this by-election, the BJP may struggle to hold the seat. Ahead of the November 13 by-election, TMC candidate Jay Prakash Toppo started his campaign with a prayer at Birpara Kali Mandir on Monday, accompanied by MP Prakash Chik Baraik. Toppo then visited Birpara market, where he received a warm reception from locals. “Our leaders are fully committed to the region’s development,” Toppo said. “If needed, we will visit the same house five times.”