Seventeen days after Union Interior Minister Amit Shah visited Bankura district in western West Bengal, discussed the elections with the region’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and had lunch at a home tribal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived in the district on Sunday afternoon. .
Shah spent about eight hours in Bankura. Banerjee will attend administrative meetings and public demonstrations until November 25, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders said.
“Mamata Banerjee is not a migratory bird that visits from time to time to have lunch with people. He has done a lot for the tribal population. We are confident that he will do more in the future, ”said Jyotsna Mandi, TMC legislator for Ranibandh, which is reserved for scheduled tribal candidates.
Incidentally, the 13 assembly segments in Bankura district are part of three Lok Sabha seats which also comprise some assembly segments from two contiguous districts. These seats from Lok Sabha, Bankura, Bishnupur and Bardhaman-Durgapur, were won by the BJP in 2019 when it won 18 out of 42 state seats.
Banerjee’s visit is significant because the TMC also launched its new outreach program in Bankura on Saturday. All state legislators have been asked to visit their constituencies with local bureaucrats and interact with people about their problems and resolve them within a stipulated time frame.
Sampa Daripa, the legislator of the Bankura assembly segment, visited a tribal village before the prime minister’s visit. “Villagers are having some trouble getting subsidized rations. They also want a road repaired. These will be taken care of, ”said Daripa.
BJP Secretary General of State Sayantan Basu, who visited Durgapur on Sunday to attend organizing meetings, mocked the prime minister’s visit to the tribal belt.
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“Banerjee is making desperate efforts but nothing can save his government. It is like praying for the dying. You should have reached out to these people when they needed your help. All these years, the TMC produced nothing but corruption. The people of the tribe want jobs and security that they cannot provide, ”said Basu.
The region will be a crucial factor for the TMC in the assembly elections scheduled in about five months because voters expressed their confidence in the BJP in 2019.
Dr. Subhas Sarkar seized the Bankura Lok Sabha seat from the TMC by obtaining 49.2% of the votes. Union Minister SS Ahluwalia won from Bardhaman-Durgapur while TMC’s Saumitra Khan retained the Bishnupur seat after joining the BJP ahead of the elections. Khan is now chairman of the BJP state youth front.
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