TMC wants rural poll sweep

TT, Jalpaiguri: District Trinamul leaders on Sunday asked party workers and supporters to pull up their socks and start working to ensure that opposition parties failed to win even in a single seat in all three tiers of the panchayat system.

"The elections are ahead and we will have to ensure the win of our candidates in all panchayats, panchayat samities and zilla parishad. Not a single seat should go to the parties in opposition," said Sourav Chakraborty, the Jalpaiguri district Trinamul president.

He was speaking at a public meeting organised at Mainaguri as a part of Trinamul's district conference. In Jalpaiguri, there are 80 panchayats, seven panchayat samitis and a 17-seat zilla parishad.

In 2013, Trinamul had failed to secure majority in most rural bodies, particularly in the zilla parishad.

The Left had secured the Zilla Parishad but later, like some other districts, Trinamul managed to gain control by engineering defections.

"This time, state and district Trinamul leaders do not want to take any risk. They want a clear mandate in all the three tiers in Jalpaiguri. That is why they are focussing on micro levels. Workers and supporters in each booth have been asked to put up all efforts to thwart other candidates' victory," said a Trinamul insider.

In the Dooars, where Trinamul did not fare in the last panchayat elections, the party is giving additional impetus, said a leader.

"We expect our results would improve this time in the Dooars as the state government has taken up a series of initiatives for socio-economic development of tea garden population, whose votes matter in many panchayats and panchayat samitis and even in some Zilla Parishad seats," he said.

State minister and party leader Aroop Biswas, who was present at the meeting, criticised the BJP and the Centre while referring to the recent Punjab National Bank scam.

"The Prime Minister had called himself a 'chowkidar' (guard) but people are siphoning thousands of crores from banks and yet, he is sitting silent. The Centre and the BJP had promised to work for tea workers but did nothing. Instead, the state government is consistently working for the workers and their families," said Biswas.

"The BJP now stands exposed and soon, leaders of the party will be evicted from tea estates if they try to work on the strategy of delivering false promises again," he added.