Party will take stern action against errant leaders, says Partha

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress will take stringent action against those who are neglecting their respective areas and are involved in infighting, party's secretary general Partha Chatterjee said on Friday.

Chatterjee had been to Jhargram to find out the reasons that led to the party's "not so good performance" in the three-tier Panchayat election in the newly set up district. He discussed the matter with the district leaders. Though Trinamool Congress did very well in the Panchayat election by winning all the Zilla Parishads, the party's performance was not so good in Purulia and Jhargram.

BJP came up as a distant second in the Panchayat election. Earlier, Chatterjee had said that BJP had spent money and misled the electorate by making false promises. Of the 16 seats in Zilla Parishad in Jhargram, Trinamool got 13 seats while BJP bagged three - two in Gopiballavpur and one in Sankrael.

In Gopiballavpur Block I, there are 18 seats, of which BJP got 12 while Trinamool got 5 and CPI-M got 1 in the Gram Panchayat. In Gopiballavpur Block II, out of the 17 seats, Trinamool got 11 and BJP bagged six.

It may be mentioned that during the core committee meeting of the party, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had instructed party leaders to build intense contacts with people.

"We must go to the people and try to resolve the problems they are facing. The party leaders should work hard as the party is for the common masses," she had said. But despite her instructions, many leaders in Jhargram did not build contacts with people. They left their villages and are staying in towns. Moreover, when BJP was circulating false promises during the campaign, the leaders could not counter them. In some pockets, the infighting had affected the party's prospects.

After coming to power in 2011, Mamata Banerjee had visited Jhargram, which was then a part of West Midnapore and through development projects, won the hearts of the people putting an end to the Maoist movement that had crippled the administration and economy of Jhargram.

Road connectivity has improved, along with setting up of super-speciality hospitals and a nursing college. A university will also come up shortly.

It came up during the discussion that BJP had mobilised people from Jharkhand. Cautioning the leaders, Chatterjee said the party will not tolerate any lackadaisical attitude of the leaders and infighting. The leaders should go to their areas and work for the poor, he maintained.