Trinamul leaders in Jalpaiguri have drawn up a plan to counter the saffron camp that has been consistently organising protests in the district over the inclusion of names of people as prospective beneficiaries of a central housing scheme like other parts of the state.

Mahua Gope, the Jalpaiguri district president of the party, mentioned BJP leaders are misguiding people with the assurance that they would help the latter in including their names in the list of beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

“These people, with the aspiration that they would get a house, are walking into the panchayat and block offices with the leaders and resorting to protests. We have decided to approach these people and clarify that there is no government order to include any new name,” said Gope.

Across Bengal, BJP has taken the task to organize demonstrations, alleging that a section of elected representatives of Trinamul has included names of their family members and many others in the beneficiary list of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) who are not eligible to get houses under the scheme.

Such protests have intensified during the past few weeks as the Mamata Banerjee government has initiated a statewide survey to verify whether each beneficiary, whose name is there in the list that was prepared in 2018, deserves the benefit of the scheme. During the exercise, names of a number of Trinamul leaders and workers were found in the list, which further encouraged the saffron camp.

Gope, who held a meeting with other district leaders here on Friday, said they also have information that some BJP leaders are even roaming around with “printed forms” and asking people to fill it up for their enrollment.

“If any BJP leader is found indulging in such practice or is resorting to protests over the demand of inclusion of names, our leaders and workers will unveil the truth before people. They should also inform the police,” she added.

Another senior Trinamul functionary said soon, the verification would be over. After the process, steps would be taken to provide houses to all such genuine beneficiaries whose names were there in the 2018 list.

“It seems this process will start before the upcoming panchayat elections. At that time, we will meet all those people who had joined in BJP’s protests, to know whether they could get their names included. These people will then speak against BJP’s that is indulged into instigative politics,” he said.

BJP leaders, however, claimed that they are only apprising people about the scheme.

“It has been proved that Trinamul has indulged in nepotism and corruption over inclusion of beneficaries’ names for the scheme. We are voicing our protests and people are spontaneously joining us. Such damage control exercises of Trinamul will not work,” said Bapi Goswami, the Jalpaiguri district BJP president.