Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday reportedly instructed the Trinamul Congress’s Birbhum district functionaries to ensure the victory of the party’s candidates in the two Lok Sabha constituencies in the district.

The instruction came during Abhishek’s closed-door meeting with over 200 Birbhum Trinamul leaders. It was Abhishek’s first extensive meeting in Birbhum since he was appointed as the national general secretary of Trinamul in 2021.

“You all have to work unitedly and re-elect the two sitting MPs, Satabdi Roy in Birbhum and Asit Mal in Bolpur, with a bigger margin than it was in 2019,” Abhishek apparently said during the meeting held at a hotel in Birbhum’s Tarapith.

Roy had emerged victorious in 2019 by a margin of over 88,000 votes. Mal had a one lakh-plus margin.

At the meeting, Abhishek asked the leaders to take the Lok Sabha polls seriously as they did during the local body elections. “Unlike panchayat or municipality votes, you don’t take Lok Sabha polls seriously. You have to take it seriously and ensure the victory of our candidates by working unitedly,” said the 36-year-old.

A section of Birbhum Trinamul leaders claimed Abhishek’s meeting was significant as the district’s political affairs were being looked after by chief minister Mamata Banerjee since the arrest of the party’s strongman Anubrata Mondal by the CBI in 2022.

Rallies today

Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee will address public meetings in the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituency on Thursday as the high-decibel campaign for the general election reaches its crescendo in north Bengal.

Prime Minister Modi will speak on the Raasmela Ground in Cooch Behar town at 2.30pm to canvass for BJP candidate Nisith Pramanik.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s rally is scheduled for noon at Mathabhanga. The Trinamul Congress has fielded Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia in the Cooch Behar seat.

Additional reporting by Main Uddin Chisti in Cooch Behar