Outreach drive banks on lawmakers

AVIJIT SINHA, TT, 04 Aug 2019, Siliguri: A section of Trinamul leaders in north Bengal assigned the "Didi Ke Bolo (Tell Didi)" campaign in areas where there are no party MLAs are in a fix.

The reason: unlike ministers and MLAs, who have powers to meet certain demands of the people and issue instructions to administrative authorities, the leaders do not have any such authority.

"Most of them are apprehensive that they might face problems. Residents might come up with certain demands and seek interventions to resolve some local problems. But as these leaders have no official capacity to address the issues, we doubt how they can pacify the residents," said a party insider in Siliguri.

The situation is more complex in districts like Malda and Darjeeling, where there are fewer or no MLAs of Trinamul. In Darjeeling district, there is no Trinamul MLA in any of the six Assembly constituencies.

Some of these leaders, who have been assigned some Assembly segments, have expressed their apprehensions to loc- al ministers and senior party leaders. They have mentioned that unpleasant issues like cut money and illegal land deals have been raised before state ministers Rabindranath Ghosh and Gautam Deb on Friday.

At the Lok Sabha polls, BJP has made inroads into north Bengal and has bagged seven of eight seats. There are 54 Assembly seats in the region.

"The BJP has managed to consolidate support in most areas. On Friday, the ministers (Deb and Ghosh) had to face such questions. This indicates that we might have to face similar situations. Mere assurances from our end, that we would bring the issues to the notice of administration and other concerned, would be enough to satisfy people. What we find in these days is that people need specific assurances from appropriate authorities. That is why we have sought suggestions from the state leadership," said a Trinamul leader in Malda.

Some, though, have thought of a "supplementary" arrangement, given that party chief Mamata Banerjee and the state leaders want to the campaign launched in all Assembly constituencies.

During the campaign, they plan to get elected representatives of rural and civic bodies with them.

This is because, the leaders said, even if a panchayat samiti member or a zilla parishad member is with them in the team, he can help in meeting some of the demands.

"Though the capacities of MLAs and state ministers are much higher but even then, if it is a local infrastructural demand, the elected representatives of the rural bodies, particularly in the panchayat samiti and zilla parishad, can come up with at least some as- surances. This can help us to address questions and some of the demands," said a Trinamul leader in Siliguri.

Deb, who is also the Darjeeling (plains) district Trinamul chief, however, is confident the campaign would be a hit in all Assembly segments. "Our leaders have been assigned with the constituencies. They will move into these areas and will have the local leaders and workers with them. The plan is to popularise the Didi K Bolo initiative and we feel they would be successful in disseminating the information in villages," Deb said.