Trinamul to hold meet... Siliguri workshop for ruling party workers in north

The Kanchenjungha Stadium where the Youth Trinamul will hold the workshop. File picture

AVIJIT SINHA & BIRESWAR BANERJEE, TT, Jan  29, 2018: Siliguri: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamul MP Abhishek Banerjee will speak at a workshop to be organised by Youth Trinamul at Kanchenjungha Stadium here on February 5.

"Our party supremo Mamata Banerjee and Youth Trinamul president Abhishek Banerjee will be present at the workshop. Leaders and workers of the party's student and youth fronts from all eight districts of north Bengal will attend the meeting," said Bikash Sarkar, the Youth Trinamul president of Darjeeling (plains) district, on Monday.

The meeting, Sarkar said, is significant ahead of rural polls.

"The workshop is important because the panchayat elections are ahead and the BJP is consistently trying to play divisive politics. Both the students and the youths have an important role to play in highlighting the achievements of the state government and telling people why they should shun the BJP," he said.

In recent times, this is a major political programme that has been planned by Trinamul to boost its students' and youths' fronts.

Party insiders, when asked about the meeting, said it had become necessary to hold such a programme to curb inner differences among a section of youths and other leaders of the party.

"In the past couple of years, there were some incidents which indicated the clear rift between a section of Youth Trinamul leaders and senior party leaders. Also, existence of multiple lobbies in the youth and students' wings has complicated the situation," said an insider.

While such differences have become overt in Cooch Behar where there had been even clashes, it is sublime in other districts like Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri and is limited to statements and counter-statements, meetings and counter-meetings, party sources said.

"There are multiple lobbies within Trinamul in south Bengal but in north Bengal, it is mostly the youth wing versus the mother party. A section of senior leaders in districts are fed up with such infighting," said a source.