75-day long 'Banglar Garbo Mamata' programme begins

Kolkata: The first phase of the 75-day extensive public outreach programme titled 'Banglar Garbo Mamata' began on Saturday with party leaders holding workers' conferences throughout the state.

Party supremo Mamata Banerjee while addressing party leaders and functionaries at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on March 2 had asked them to bury differences and work together to ensure steady growth of Bengal. This is for the first time that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has taken such an elaborate programme to reach out to people across the state.

The programme that will end on May 10 will witness the participation of more than 75,000 leaders and 5 lakh grass-root workers. More than 21,000 meetings will be conducted during this period and an estimated 2.5 crore people will be approached. It is expected that 1.25 lakh young people will join the Trinamool Congress during the programme.

Meanwhile, Partha Chatterjee, secretary-general of TMC announced that Ratna Chatterjee, wife of former mayor Sovan Chatterjee will coordinate with party leaders and functionaries in Behala east. After Sovan Chatterjee who is the MLA from Behala East joined the BJP, the party needed someone to coordinate between the leaders and the workers.

"As the civic polls are approaching we cannot sit idle and Ratna Chatterjee will coordinate between the leaders and workers in Behala east," Chatterjee said.

In Dum Dum, Bratya Basu met the workers and local leaders at Shramik Mangal Kendra and discussed the strategies to be followed during the ensuing civic polls and 2021 Assembly election.

Mayor Firhad Hakim met the party functionaries at Uttam Mancha while state Power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay held a meeting with the workers at Sarat Sadan on Triangular Park. In Purulia, Shantiram Mahato, state minister for Paschimanchal Unnayan Affairs department held a meeting with party workers. In Purulia, the party did not do well in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Party heavyweights including Subrata Mukherjee, Suvendu Adhikari, Sadhan Pandey, Aroop Biswas, Shashi Panja, Chandrima Bhattacharya Malay Ghatak and Indranil Sen held meetings in their respective Assembly constituencies.

It may be recalled that after the morale of the party workers had reached an all-time low after the Lok Sabha elections, Mamata Banerjee had held a series of meetings to boost them up. Didi Ke Bolo programme which was launched had successfully ironed out the problems the party was facing. In three by-elections held in 2019, TMC nominees had won by a handsome margin.

Senior party leaders said there was great enthusiasm among the workers to attend the meeting. They were asked to go to the people and listen to their grievances. It was interesting to note that many old-timers who had remained inactive for quite some time attended the meetings and assured the leaders that they would again work for the party.

Meanwhile, Rita Chowdhury, the four-time CPI(M) councillor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation joined Trinamool Congress at a function in north Kolkata on Saturday.

Trinamool MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay handed over the party flag to her. Chowdhury is the wife of Dr Umesh Chowdhury (1990- 95) who was also a councillor from Biplabi Bangla Congress, a Left Front partner.

Rita Chowdhury is a popular figure in Phalpatti area of Burrabazar and is associated with the CPI(M) for more than four decades. Basundhara Goswami, daughter of former state PWD minister Kshiti Goswami also joined Trinamool Congress on Monday. Noted Sarod player Debojyoti Bose popularly known as Tonny has also joined Trinamool Congress.