Ahead of Bengal panchayat polls, TMC launches new outreach campaign

The Bengal chief minister further said that about 350 party leaders will visit villages in the state and stay overnight to interact with the people.

TMC’s newly launched mobile app, ‘Didir Doot (Didi’s Messenger)’, will be used to make the campaign effective and to also receive feedback from the people, the party said.

Mamata Banerjee said the programme will act like a follow-up of her government’s ‘Duare Sarkar (Government at your doorstep)’ initiative.

“The government will work as it does all the time. But most of the time, the complaints are received at the party level. Our party controls 75 to 80 per cent of the panchayats in the state… This campaign will help our party know whether the people have benefitted. The work that Duare Sarkar started will be taken forward by this initiative,” said Banerjee.

The announcement from the party comes ahead of the panchayat polls, which are likely to be held in the month of April. It may be recalled that ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls, the party had launched the ‘Didi Ke Bolo (Tell Your Didi)’ campaign to address the grievances of people against the TMC.

While launching the campaign Monday, Mamata Banerjee also slammed the Opposition in Bengal. “The Opposition only indulges in a smear campaign against us. Even when we were in the Opposition, we never did anything destructive; rather we took part in constructive politics. A political party has to shoulder a lot of responsibilities. In the name of politics, Opposition here only maligns the image of the state government,” she said.

TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who was also present at the launch event, said: “The party will start the campaign on January 10 and will continue it for 60 days. Our party workers will reach out to the people across the state and ensure that everyone can avail the benefits of welfare schemes of the state government.”