Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee will hold a virtual meeting with party workers later this week to decide on protests across districts in West Bengal, simultaneous to its proposed programmes in New Delhi next month against the alleged withholding of funds by the Centre for the state under the MGNREGA and other schemes.

The date of the virtual meeting is yet to be decided but is likely to be held either on "Thursday or Friday", a party leader said.

Banerjee, the party's national general secretary, and TMC MPs, MLAs and leaders from the districts will pay their respects to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in the national capital on October 2 on his birth anniversary.

Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who was supposed to attend the programmes in New Delhi, might not go there as she was advised 10 days of rest by doctors after she suffered an injury on her left knee during a recent trip to Spain and Dubai.

A TMC delegation will meet Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Giriraj Singh on October 3 and place before him the issue of "non-release of dues" under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Bengal minister Chandrima Bhattacharya had said on September 23.

The TMC had plans to stage protests in New Delhi for MGNREGA dues to Bengal.

The ruling party had claimed that despite several requests to the Delhi Police, it was denied permission to hold demonstrations in the national capital.

"Our party's national general secretary will hold a virtual meeting with district-level leaders to decide how simultaneous protest programmes can be held in every block of Bengal on October 2 and 3," a senior TMC leader said.

During the TMC's Martyrs' Day rally on July 21, Abhishek Banerjee had announced that the party would launch a massive protest in Delhi on Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 against the alleged blocking of funds by the central government for Bengal under the MGNREGA and other schemes.

The TMC had on August 30, claimed that it was denied permission to hold demonstrations in New Delhi as the BJP-led Union government wanted to "scuttle the voice of Bengal", a charge dubbed as "baseless" by the saffron camp.

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