Trinamul has set its sights on Malda — north Bengal’s largest district in terms of the number of Assembly seats, 12 — and is desperate to recover from the debacle of past two major elections in five years.
The state’s ruling party has started bringing in Bengali film and TV stars in Malda and has drawn up a strategy to bring in party supremo Mamata Banerjee many times to campaign for the state polls.
On Sunday, they brought in Ronita Das — known to television audiences as “Baha” (a character she had played) in a roadshow in Old Malda.
On Saturday, BJP national president J.P. Nadda had held a roadshow in Malda town.
Ronita, along with youth Trinamul leaders, participated in the roadshow held in the same area where Nadda had addressed his public meeting and joined in a community lunch with farmers.
“We all are foot soldiers of Mamata Banerjee. I was here to tell people that they should refrain from backing a political party that has been buying leaders from other parties. I have been supporting Didi for the last 10 years and have recently joined the party,” said Ronita.
Earlier, the party had organised a public meeting and a roadshow with actor Soham.
Asked about these activities, a Trinamul leader said these were to counter the BJP that he said had managed to consolidate its vote bank in the district by playing the polarisation card.
“Our performance, on the other hand, has remained low-key since 2016. We need to work hard to revive our support base. Our leaders in different tiers have been assigned with different responsibilities to drum up support,” he said.
Both in the 2016 Assembly and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Trinamul drew a blank in Malda.
“Till date, Malda and Darjeeling are the two districts in north Bengal where Trinamul has never won a Lok Sabha seat. Also, the debacle it faced at the last Assembly elections, coupled with BJP’s emergence, seems to have made the party leaders desperate to put in every effort to grab maximum possible seats in Malda,” said a political observer.
He said unlike other minority-dominated belts where Trinamul has consistently won in elections, victory eluded Mamata Banerjee’s party in Malda that has a minority population of around 55 per cent .
Trinamul leaders are also busy in making arrangements for the upcoming visit of Mamata — the main crowd-puller for the party.
“On February 10, our chief minister will address a public meeting in Malda town. We will prove our strength on that date as thousands of supporters will spontaneously participate in the event,” said a district Trinamul leader.
“There are indications that she will pay some more visits in the district ahead of the elections,” he added.
