New ground & rival turf TMC focus - Sourav eye on areas that have voted Trinamul this time & pockets of Cong-Left

TT, Jalpaiguri, June 7: Sourav Chakraborty, the Trinamul president of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar, today said he would urge the state government to develop those areas of these two districts where the party has broken fresh ground or has done poorly compared to the Opposition alliance in the Assembly elections.

Chakraborty, who attended a party victory rally organised this afternoon, said: "We have performed well in the Assembly polls in both the districts. However, while analysing the poll data, we have found Trinamul has secured leads in many areas where other parties were known to be strong in terms of earlier poll results. We have thus decided to approach the state government and the elected representatives with the request that they should focus on these areas and carry out development."

In Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar, Trinamul has secured 10 of 12 Assembly seats this time. The remaining two seats have gone to the BJP and the Congress.

"Local and district leaders of our party who work in these areas have been asked to prepare comprehensive reports, mentioning the reasons why other parties have failed to secure votes in their areas this time. They will also mention the demands of residents that have not been met so far, which we believe is one of the reasons as why the votes have shifted to us. We can then make appropriate recommendations and submit those at departments concerned so that necessary projects can be taken," he added.

The decision, party insiders said, is a part of Trinamul's strategy to augment its support base ahead of the three-tier rural polls scheduled in 2018 across the state, except in Siliguri subdivision.

"In 2013, we had performed miserably in the rural polls in Jalpaiguri district. In fact, Jalpaiguri zilla parishad is the only zilla parishad the Left had won," the insider said. "Now that six of the seven Assembly seats in the district have come to us, our district leaders, including the district president, are focusing on micro levels and have prepared the plan to work at grassroots and use the government's welfare programmes as a tool to woo those voters who did not vote us this time."

Along with this plan, a simultaneous exercise would be taken up by Trinamul leaders to bring in more voters in favour of their party.

"There are a few areas, like some wards of Jalpaiguri town and some closed tea estates of Madarihat block in Alipurduar, where other parties have got more votes (Trinamul lost Jalpaiguri and Madarihat seats). These areas will also be under our consideration," a senior Trinamul leader said.

"We are in the process of analysing the vote shares at the booths."

The district Trinamul president, who walked with party leaders, MLAs and workers at the rally that started from Dishari More of Jalpaiguri town, also confirmed that areas known as Trinamul strongholds will also be included in the development process.

"We will work on the new areas where votes of other parties have shifted to us. But we can never forget areas like Falakata, Mainaguri, Rajganj and Dabgram-Fulbari where people have voted us again," Chakraborty said. "We will always request the state to carry out more infrastructural development in these areas."