Several banners were seen on Wednesday in Dabgram-Fulbari Assembly constituency, the seat of state tourism minister Gautam Deb, seeking a “son of the soil” as the Trinamul candidate for the seat in the upcoming elections.

As the news spread, Trinamul supporters took down the banners. While local party leaders alleged it was the ploy of rivals, Deb, likely to contest from the seat for the third time, downplayed the issue.

On Wednesday, banners with the message seeking a “bhoomiputra” from Trinamul for Dabgram-Fulbari Assembly seat were seen in Kamrangaguri, near Uttarkanya — the state branch secretariat — and in Chunabhati area.

The demand came from a group that introduced itself as “amra didir Trinamul Congress er sainik (We are the soldiers of Didi’s Trinamul Congress)”.

However, no “sainik” has come forward so far.

A political observer said that in north Bengal, this was the first time that such banners had been seen in the constituency of any state minister.

“Those who put them up seem to be trying to stoke local sentiments as Deb is not a resident of his constituency (he is a resident of Collegepara in Siliguri, under Siliguri Assembly seat),” he added. “However, I don’t think that such tactics will rattle a seasoned politician like Deb,” the political observer added.

Debasish Pramanik, who is the president of Trinamul’s Dabgram-Fulbari branch committee, said that Deb, over the past couple of months, had been “relentlessly working in his constituency from dawn to dusk and is literally trying to reach out to every household”.

“The minister is receiving overwhelming response from people. That’s why we suspect these banners are a ploy of our rival political parties to undermine his efforts and that of our party as a whole before the elections,” said Pramanik.

Dabgram-Fulbari constituency, which is under Jalpaiguri district, is spread over 14 wards of Siliguri Municipal Corporation and four contiguous panchayats.

Since 2011, Deb has won twice successively from here. But in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP candidate of Jalpaiguri managed to secure a lead of over 80,000 votes from the Assembly segment.

Minister Deb — one of Trinamul’s veterans who also seems aware that this was a crucial election — appeared unfazed when asked about the banners on Wednesday.

“No point in giving importance to this,” Deb said. “Those who have put up the banners better come out in open, and if they feel like, can campaign against me,” he added.