Trinamul Congress leaders in Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts announced new district committees and block committees on Friday, a day after party supremo Mamata Banerjee had returned from Siliguri to Calcutta.

As K.K. Kalyani and Partha Pratim Roy, the district Trinamul presidents of Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar, respectively, announced the new committees, it was found that the party made an attempt to address the grievances of a section of leaders.

In both the districts, old faces and dissidents have been included in the district and block committees. Trinamul insiders said such inclusive approach of the party leadership would help in resolving infighting in Trinamul.

Rabindranath Ghosh, the north Bengal development minister and the immediate past Cooch Behar district Trinamul president, has not been included in the district committee.

“The district committee has been formed according to the advice of our state leaders. We will all work together as has been instructed by our party supremo,” said Cooch Behar district president Roy.

In the past 10 years, Trinamul managed to establish itself as the strongest political force with an adequate support base in both the districts.

However, squabbles among a number of lobbies weakened the party’s support base and led to the emergence of the BJP as a force to be reckoned with. During her recent visit to Siliguri, Mamata Banerjee obliquely sent a message to Trinamul leaders and workers that they needed to work together to defeat the BJP, which won seven of the eight Lok Sabha seats in north Bengal.

A political analyst pointed out that Trinamul had taken a two-fold strategy to revive its support base in the two districts ahead of the Assembly elections.

On one hand, Mamata is playing the development card by extending financial assistance and offering jobs to former KLO militants, providing funds to language academies and the welfare board of Rajbanshis and initiating housing schemes for tea garden workers.

On the other hand, Trinamul is trying to get all leaders at district and block levels on board.

“The two strategies can help Trinamul. This is because we have seen that despite carrying out development works in both these districts, the party could not win the Lok Sabha seats only because of differences among leaders,” said an observer.

Small tea sector bonus

Workers of small tea plantations measuring between one acre and 15 acres in Jalpaiguri district will be paid bonus at the rate of 16 per cent. Workers of plantations ranging from 15 to 25 acres will receive bonus at 17.6 per cent. The decision was taken at a meeting between the Jalpaiguri District Small Tea Growers’ Association and unions.

The Jalpaiguri district has around 35,000 workers who serve in 22,000 small tea plantations.