Abhishek to meet families of 2 slain TMC workers today

Kolkata: Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is finally set to step out of his Kalighat residence this Saturday, marking his first public appearance 26 days after the party's bruising defeat in the assembly elections.Banerjee plans to hit the streets to visit the families of two allegedly targeted party workers in Sonarpur South and Beleghata. The TMC camp hopes this move will revitalise distressed cadres, even as apprehensions remain over public reactions.Banerjee will first travel to Sonarpur South in South 24 Parganas to meet the family of slain TMC worker Sanju Karmakar. After this, he will meet the family of another slain party worker, Biswajit Patnaik, in Beleghata and enquire about their current situation, as he was the sole breadwinner.Simultaneously, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee levelled serious allegations against a section of state police, claiming they were acting under the influence of BJP legislators to slap false, politically motivated cases on innocent TMC workers.Condemning instances of workers being paraded in handcuffs, he promised a rigorous legal battle. "I request the families of those still in custody to send me copies of FIRs and court orders. We will fight for you in the higher courts," he assured.The opposition, meanwhile, met the development with sharp sarcasm. Taking a dig at the TMC neta's month-long isolation, Barrackpore BJP MLA Koustav Bagchi said: "The opposition has every right to conduct political programmes in a democracy. However, I cannot predict what will happen if the public's boiling anger against Abhishek is reflected on the streets."CPM youth neta Dipsita Dhar also weighed in, saying: "It is customary for netas to stand by their workers. But if Abhishek had stood by Jahangir Khan in Falta earlier, he wouldn't have had to retreat from the electoral battleground in the first place."