TMC prepares the ground for Mamata’s rally in Midnapore

Kolkata: Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will reach out to East

Midnapore

to quarantine her party ranks from the “rebel” bug and take on opponents BJP and CPM in the battle for the Bengal assembly polls.

Banerjee will hold a public rally at the Midnapore College Grounds on December 7. People from East Midnapore will participate, said Trinamool West Midnapore president Ajit Maity.

There was a flurry of activity in the Trinamool camp on Saturday with party seniors meeting district organizers of West Midnapore, Malda and Murshidabad ahead of the CM’s meet with district heads on December 4. While TMC seniors described them as “routine organizational meetings”, the parleys assumed significance following Suvendu Adhikari’s resignation from the state Cabinet. All the three districts under TMC’s focus are those where the rebel leader and former minister had served as party observer.

Trinamool state president and MP Subrata Bakshi was in Midnapore on Saturday to take stock of the ground situation and oversee arrangements for the CM’s rally. Bakshi and other Trinamool seniors Manas Bhunia, minister Soumen Mahapatra and district president Maity didn’t utter a word on Adhikari other than hitting out at BJP and CPM. Suvendu loyalist Midnapore Zilla Parishad karmadhyakshas Ramaprasad Giri and Amulya Maity, former Midnapore Municipality chairman Pranab Basu and TMC district general secretary Snehashis were among the prominent absentees at Saturday’s meeting.

Bakshi, on his way back to Kolkata, spent some time with TMC leaders at a roadside dhaba in Kolaghat. Suvendu loyalist and Nandakumar MLA Sukumar De was present there. Trinamool’s Ramnagar MLA Akhil Giri, Chandipur MLA Amiya Kanti Bhattacharya, Panskura Municipality chairman Nanda Kumar Mishra and former Trinamool MLA from Purba Panskura Biplab Roy Chowdhury held talks with the Trinamool state president over ways to establish the party communication channel when Adhikari was not taking the initiative.

Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday held talks with the party’s Malda district leadership at his south Kolkata office. Even though district seniors, namely Mousam Noor and Sabitri Mitra, could not make it to the meeting, Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury, Malda Zilla Parishad sabhadhipati Gour Mandal and others were present.

Trinamool minister and Mahila Trinamool Congress president Chandrima Bhattacharya held a meeting of the women’s wing in Murshidabad on the same day to reassure the ranks that TMC will retain power in 2021. “Our CM has done a lot for women. She has been doing it throughout the year and not just ahead of polls,” she said.

The minister’s visit came days after Murshidabad Zilla Parishad sabhadhipati Musharaf Hosain Mandal and Hariharpara MLA Niamot Shiekh had sympathized with Adhikari, who brought the Murshidabad Zilla Parishad under Trinamool’s control and expanded the party’s network on Adhir Chowdhury’s turf.

(With inputs from Sujoy Khanra, Suman Mandal, Sukumar Mahato and Subhro Maitra)