State tourism minister and Trinamul leader Gautam Deb on Thursday urged chief minister Mamata Banerjee to form a full-fledged district committee of Trinamul’s Darjeeling (plains) district unit.

Deb, who held a meeting with the chief minister at Uttarkanya before she left for Calcutta, said a comprehensive committee will help speed up organisation work and consolidate support base across the district. Deb is also party’s coordinator in the districts of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar.

As of now, the district committee only has the president, coordinators and spokespersons.

After the meeting, Deb said: “We discussed many issues related to the region's development. Apart from that, I also requested our party supremo (Mamata) to form a full-fledged district committee for the smooth functioning of our party.”

Party insiders said along with other districts of the region, Trinamul is focusing on Darjeeling district, particularly because both factions of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha are with the party. Electorally, it has not done well in recent years. Trinamul managed to win only one Assembly seat, Siliguri, back in 2011 in Darjeeling district.

“As far as winning elections is concerned, Trinamul is yet to stamp its presence in Darjeeling district. Other than winning the Siliguri Assembly seat once, the only other success the party could get in the district is a majority at the Mirik Municipality (in 2017). But this time, the situation has changed as Bimal Gurung is supporting Trinamul and it is obvious that the party will try to perform better in the district,” said an observer.