The Trinamul leadership in Cooch Behar virtually started its campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on Sunday with a public meeting in Dinhata.

“Our party will hold such public meetings in all nine Assembly constituencies of the district. We are determined to defeat the BJP in the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat this time,” said district Trinamul president Avijit De Bhowmik.

In Cooch Behar, the BJP had won in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Nisith Pramanik, the MP, is also a junior minister at the Centre.

In the 2021 Assembly polls, the saffron camp bagged seven of nine seats, with Trinamul winning only two. However, a few months later, Udayan Guha, the current north Bengal development minister, won Dinhata by a massive margin in a bypoll.

However, many senior Trinamul functionaries have maintained that multiple lobbies and acute infighting among leaders in Cooch Behar hindered the party from doing as well as it could have.

“Recently, chief minister Mamata Banerjee was in north Bengal. She has made it clear to party leaders of the district that all should work together to ensure Trinamul wins the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat. Earlier, the party’s all-India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee passed a similar missive to them. This made the leaders attend Sunday's meeting to send a message to party workers that they should all work together, setting aside their personal differences,” said a Trinamul insider.

On Sunday, all prominent leaders of the party in the district reached Sanhati Maidan in Dinhata for the public meeting.

“In 2019, we lost because a section of our leaders had taken money from the BJP and worked for our rival. It will not happen this time. We have to pledge today that we will work together,” said Guha.

Around 15,000 party supporters were present at the meeting, claimed the leaders.

“The Assembly-wise meetings will continue till January 7. Eight more meetings will be held and local leaders and workers will be instructed to start working in their areas, keeping in mind the Lok Sabha elections,” said De Bhowmik.

Trinamul veteran Rabindranath Ghosh also called for unity. “We are together. There is no difference among us. Our leaders will put all efforts to defeat the BJP,” he said.

BJP leaders scoffed at Trinamul's claims. Biraj Bose, a district general secretary of the BJP, said that ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls too, Trinamul leaders had spoken on similar lines.

“The BJP will win the seat again. People have seen the violence across the district because of infighting among Trinamul leaders. They will not vote Triamul,” said Bose.