Trinamul MP and party’s youth wing president Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday underscored the “hollow promises” of BJP leaders and compared them with the “commitments met” by the Mamata Banerjee government during the past 10 years.

Abhishek was in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts to attend public meetings as the campaign ended in these districts where elections would be held on April 10.

“You want free bhason (empty speeches) from outsiders or free ration provided by Banglar nijer meye (Bengal’s own girl)? These people, who were never seen during the Covid 19 crisis, have

now become daily commuters and are turning up here in Bengal every day. But people will never stand in their support as they are known for making hollow promises,” the youth Trinamul leader said at a public meeting in Kumargram Assembly seat of Alipurduar.

In north Bengal, where the saffron camp had managed to win seven of eight Lok Sabha seats in 2019, leaders of Mamata Banerjee’s party are trying to drive home the point that even though the region elected BJP MPs, the central government and the MPs failed to deliver these past two years.

Abhishek also underlined the revision of tea wages and other initiatives taken by the state government during the past 10 years and questioned what the BJP has done for the tea sector.

In Alipurduar district, results of four out of five seats depend on support of the tea population. In north Bengal overall, votes of tea workers and their families decide the results of 15-odd Assembly seats.

“When Mamata Banerjee came to power, the daily tea wage was Rs 67. It is Rs 202 now. Additionally, the state government has facilitated the reopening of a number of closed tea gardens, while the central government that had committed to take over some of the closed gardens has not done anything about it so far. It is clear who meets the commitments and who makes promises but never meets them,” said the Trinamul MP and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew.

Abhishek assured the crowd that if his party was voted to power, wages of tea workers would be revised in due course.

The BJP too, is trying to woo the tea population, announcing that if it came to power in Bengal, daily tea wage would be hiked to Rs 350.

Later in the day, in Tufanganj area of Cooch Behar district, Abhishek dubbed the BJP leaders “migratory birds”.

“People should choose whether they want the parijayi pakkhi (migratory birds) or Lokkhi (goddess Lakshmi). It is the time to make a decision. If they come to power, they would take five years to do a job that can be done in seven days,” said Abhishek.

Along with Abhishek, Trinamul brought in actors-turned-politicians Soham Chakraborty and Sayantika Banerjee. They held road shows to support party candidates, Alipurduar’s Sourav Chakraborty, and Falakata, Subhas Roy.