Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday chaired a virtual meeting with chiefs of around 2,500 gram panchayats and local party presidents and instructed them to extensively reach out to each household with the message of Centre’s deprivation.

“You have to reach out to every household in your area repeatedly. Let them know why they should vote for Trinamul. Explain to them how the BJP government in Delhi deprived Bengal of central funds and Mamata Banerjee cleared the dues of MGNREGA workers. There should not be any lackadaisical attitude towards visiting villagers on their doorsteps,” a Trinamul leader quoted Abhishek as saying during the 45-minute-long virtual meeting on Saturday evening.

A source in Trinamul said Abhishek’s meeting with the rural body chiefs and the local party presidents in those panchayats was deemed significant as he planned to involve in the forthcoming general election micro-level leaders who had refrained from participating in campaigns during the previous Lok Sabha polls.

“The rural leaders, who used to work hard during the panchayat polls, usually keep themselves away from the Lok Sabha elections as they consider this election would not impact their political control. The party plans to extensively involve the resource on the ground this time,” said a Trinamul leader.

Abhishek, who was appointed as Trinamul’s national general secretary in 2021, had already conducted multiple meetings in various districts with the party’s rank and file to involve optimum force to challenge the BJP that had won 18 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

In the meeting with the rural body chiefs and local party presidents, Abhishek clarified what they would say to the people when meeting them on their doorstep.

“He asked us to compile a list of MGNREGA workers whose dues had been cleared by the state government recently. We will request them to vote for us. We will also visit those who did not receive
central funds to build their houses under the PMAY scheme and reassure them that our chief minister would provide the money by December this year,” said the chief of a gram panchayat in Burdwan who participated in the meeting.

The state government had cleared dues for 59 lakh MGNREGA workers, and there are around 11 lakh PMAY beneficiaries who did not receive funds to build their houses.

“If we consider there are three members in each of the deprived families, then the total number of electors will be 2.10 crore. If we could properly reach out to those families, it would certainly yield a good result in the Lok Sabha polls,” said a Trinamul leader in Calcutta.