The turnout of over two lakh people at Mamata Banerjee’s rally in Purulia on Tuesday came as a pleasant surprise for Trinamul leadership as the party has been on the backfoot in this western district since 2018 panchayat elections in which the BJP showed signs of significant gains.

“It was our challenge to fill up such a big ground... We were worried about the turnout even half an hour before the chief minister’s chopper took off from Kolaghat as some parts of the field were vacant. But finally, people did turn up in droves and filled the ground,” said Gurupada Tudu, the Purulia Trinamul president.

Tudu claimed that around 2.5 lakh people attended Tuesday’s rally of the chief minister and surpassed their target.

The fact that the organisers were worried about the turnout became clear when Mamata rose to deliver her address.

“I heard that few people were trying to take photographs of vacant ground around 10.30am or 11am despite the meeting being scheduled to start at 1.30pm. Please come on the dais to take a photograph of the ground. Anybody can come and anyone is welcome on the stage. Anyone can come and see the sea of crowd from the dais,” said the chief minister.

As Trinamul is the party in power and has complete control over the administration and the police, one cannot draw conclusion about the party’s support base only on the basis of turnout, but Trinamul insiders said the gathering gave them hope of a turnaround in the district that has become a BJP stronghold in the last couple of years.

“During the CM’s campaign rally before the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, we had struggled to bring even 25,000 people... Against that backdrop, today’s rally is indeed a success,” said a senior Trinamul leader in the district.

Trinamul leaders said excitement over Duare Sarkar and groundwork helped in getting people to the venue.

Trinamul leaders said the chief minister was so happy with the crowd count that she started sketching while sitting on the dais. “It was a sketch of state minister Sandhyarani Tudu and a party MLA sitting on the dais... She gifted the sketch to our MLA and minister with a smiling face,” said a Trinamul leader.

Fatal fall

Benjamin Sandil, 45, who had come to attend the rally, died after falling from the roof of a bus at the parking lot near the venue.