The arrest of Debasish Pramanik, Trinamool’s block president of Dabgram-Fulbari for his involvement in land grabbing has led to repercussions in the political circles of Siliguri and Jalpaiguri.

Pramanik, who hails from Fulbari, a locality in the southern outskirts of Siliguri under Jalpaiguri district, has been accused of grabbing and selling government land by none other than chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

While the BJP has termed the arrests — two others have been arrested with Pramanik and the police are in search of Gautam Goswami, another TMC leader — as an attempt by Mamata to give a “makeover” to her party’s image, Trinamool leaders, who otherwise are tightlipped, have admitted in closed quarters that the move will help in reviving party’s support base.

Shikha Chatterjee, the BJP MLA of Dabgram-Fulbari Assembly seat, mentioned that ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the chief minister had urged people to vote for TMC, considering that she is the candidate in all the 42 seats.

“But as people of north Bengal, including the voters of Dabgram-Fulbari voted against TMC, she is trying to repair the dent. But the damage has already been done and people here no longer believe TMC because most leaders of the party are involved in various illegal activities, including land grabbing,” said Chatterjee.

Since 2011, Dabgram-Fulbari – an Assembly seat which comprises 14 wards of Siliguri Municipal Corporation and four contiguous panchayats of Jalpaiguri district – has been in the focus of political pundits.

This is because in 2011 and in 2016, Gautam Deb, the most prominent Trinamool leader in north Bengal, had won from the seat and was included in Mamata’s cabinet.

“However, after 2014, there was a swing in support base and we could perceive it. One of the principal reasons for which people moved away from us was the highhandedness of land mafias who started illegally occupying peoples’ land and even resorted to coercion,” said a senior TMC functionary based in Siliguri.

In 2021, Deb had to face defeat and Shikha Chatterjee, who had deserted TMC and joined BJP, emerged as winner.

TMC however, managed to recover some of its support base at the civic polls in 2022 and bagged all 14 municipal wards.

However, at the Lok Sabha elections this year, the party has to face defeat again. In Jalpaiguri Lok Sabha seat – Dabgram-Fulbari Assembly segment is under this seat – Jayanta Roy, the BJP candidate, could win for the second time.

He defeated Nirmal Chandra Roy of TMC by a margin of 86,693 votes.

“Out of these, BJP got a lead of 72,245 votes only from Dabgram-Fulbari. This is what seems to have irked the chief minister, particularly after she learnt that the land mafias, including prominent office bearers of her party in the area, are grabbing and selling even government land,” said a political observer.