Panchayat elections: Trinamool to reinvigorate support base in Bankura
‘TMC won in four constituencies and lost in eight constituencies...’
KOLKATA: Following poor results during the 2021 Assembly elections in the Bankura district, Trinamool Congress (TMC) is looking ahead to reinvigorate its support base there, keeping in mind the upcoming Panchayat elections in the state.
With the possibility of Panchayat polls knocking at the door, TMC has ramped up its effort to strengthen its support base in various districts of the state through its Nabajowar campaign. Even as the ruling party managed a landslide victory in the 2021 Assembly elections, it scored poorly in some districts where its vote share slumped.
Addressing the party’s booth-level workers in the district, TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee chose to highlight that the TMC-led state government did not deprive any of the districts where the party failed to garner a considerable amount of votes in the state elections. He mentioned that TMC does not discriminate on the basis of which constituency voted for the party and ones that didn’t.
“TMC won in four constituencies and lost in eight constituencies out of a total of 12 Assembly constituencies in Bankura district in the Assembly elections. Some of these districts are Sonamukhi, Indus, Kotulpur, and Bankura. Despite such a result can any woman in these constituencies claim that they are not receiving the benefits of the welfare schemes such as Laxmir Bhandar because they didn’t vote for TMC? If anyone can come up with such a claim then I will stop the Naba Jowar campaign on that very day,” Abhishek claimed.
He further pointed out to the booth-level workers: “For these eight constituencies in Bankura where TMC could not win, at least Rs 5 crore every month is being spent under the Laxmir Bhandar scheme, which comes down to a total
of Rs 40 crore every month and Rs 480 crore in a year, which is nearly Rs 500 crore. Hence, after the 2021 Assembly elections, about Rs 1000 crore have been released for these eight constituencies for the next two years despite people here not voting for TMC. But, Mamata Banerjee, after becoming the chief minister, ensured that the money reaches the bank accounts of these people.”
He further said on the basis of the 2021 Assembly elections results, TMC won in 92 Gram
Panchayats and lost in 98 Gram Panchayats.
“Can anyone show me where among these 98 Gram Panchayats, schemes such as Rastasree or Pathasree have not been implemented? Roads are being developed in all Gram Panchayats regardless of whether we won or lost. TMC does not discriminate on the basis of religion or race. Once we formed a government, our only aim has been to work for people’s needs,” Abhishek Banerjee highlighted.