Trinamul MP and party’s youth wing president Abhishek Banerjee will be in north Bengal on a five-day visit next week and will attend a slew of indoor meetings with party workers.

During his trip, Abhishek will address a public meeting in South Dinajpur district.

The visit has been planned just ahead of a trip of Trinamul turncoat Subhendu Adhikari who is likely to be in north Bengal on January 7. Abhishek’s visit appears to be a proactive move by the ruling party of Bengal to put all efforts to prevent Adhikari from eroding Trinamul’s support base.

After Adhikari joined the BJP, he hasn’t yet visited the region on which the saffron brigade has been focusing for months and intends to secure 50 of 54 Assembly seats.

“In north Bengal, three Trinamul MLAs have already defected to the BJP, along with a former MP and some other party leaders. Subhendu Adhikari has managed to dent Trinamul’s support to some extent at a number of places in south Bengal and hinted that he would bring in more people on board. That is why it seems, Abhishek Banerjee, along with PK, will be in the region to foil the BJP leader’s plan,” said an observer.

The three MLAs who have joined the BJP are Mihir Goswami of Cooch Behar South, Dipali Biswas of Gazole (in Malda) and Sukra Munda of Nagrakata (in Jalpaiguri).

During his visit, the youth Trinamul president will attend indoor meetings in Siliguri, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and South Dinajpur.