2023 panchayat polls: Trinamul grassroots rejig in three districts

Over the past few months, the party top brass, including Mamata Banerjee and all India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, is focusing on north Bengal

Mamata Banerjee.: File photo

Avijit Sinha   |   TT  |  Siliguri   |    14.08.22  :  The Trinamul leadership published the list of office bearers in the second tier of the party for Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling (plains) on Saturday which suggested a grassroots overhaul  ahead of the 2023 panchayat polls.

“Names of presidents and vice-presidents of the party, along with presidents of the youth and women’s wings and the workers’ front (INTTUC) have been announced by the state leadership today (Saturday). A number of old leaders have been dropped and new faces included in all these three districts,” said a senior Trinamul functionary here.

Trinamul insiders said the party leadership picked names based on a number of parameters, including lifestyles, transparency, public relations, support base and ability to work in villages, tea belts, tribal and Rajbanshi dominated areas, they said.

“Many are youths. The selection has been made with due diligence. The panchayat elections are ahead and we do not want a person to be an office bearer in the block level whose can trigger ire among supporters,” said a party leader in Jalpaiguri.

Over the past few months, the party  top brass, including Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee and all India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, is focusing on north Bengal, a region where it could not perform well even last year in the Assembly elections despite its thumping victories elsewhere.

In the three organisational districts for which Trinamul brought out block-level lists on Saturday, it won four of 15 Assembly seats and the rest went to the BJP. In the recent months, the party  showed signs of revival in the region as it won a majority of seats at the civic elections.

For the first time, Trinamul could bag both the Siliguri Municipal Corporation and Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad.

In Bengal, the three-tier panchayat elections will be due next year. As this is the last poll to be held in Bengal ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, all political parties are trying to prove their support base at the grassroots.

Courtesy & source - The Telegraph