Trinamool Congress MLA Ashis Banerjee faced protests on Tuesday as he went on a visit to a village in Birbhum district as part of the ruling party's programme 'Didir Doot' (Mamata Banerjee's messenger) to connect with the people before this year's panchayat elections in West Bengal.

The Rampurhat MLA was confronted by some people claiming to be residents of the Mohammad Bazar area.

Claiming that he was not seen for a long time, the villagers at Mohammad Bazar area termed him as a "comet", a celestial object seen after long intervals of years. They alleged that no work has been done to repair roads in the area, which have been in bad shape for years.

The TMC leadership have formulated the 'Didir Doot' programme for interaction between the party leaders and the villagers. Ashis Banerjee later said that he is visiting the villages as part of the programme so as to know about the complaints of the people and to communicate this to the proper authorities for mitigation.

TMC leaders, including ministers, MPs and MLAs have been confronted with protests and complaints against panchayat leaderships, mostly belonging to the ruling party, during their visits to the rural areas of the state in the run up to the local body elections. They have faced complaints ranging from panchayat pradhans and members not working to that of alleged corruption and absence of leadership from the area.

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