THE RULING Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday announced that it would soon step its attack against the BJP-led Centre. On March 29, Chief Minister and TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee will begin a two-day dharna against the Centre's “non-disbursal” of funds to West Bengal. The CM will sit on dharna in front of B R Ambedkar statue at Esplanade here. On the same day, her nephew and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee will address a rally against the “anti-people” policy of the Centre and its “stepmotherly attitude” towards the West Bengal government. In the run-up to the state panchayat election scheduled for this year, TMC is on the backfoot over a string of “corruption” allegations and arrests of some of its leaders, including former minister Partha Chatterjee and Birbhum district chief Anubrata Mondal, by central agencies. The TMC lost the recent Sagardighi bypoll to the Congress's Bayron Biswas, who was backed by the CPI (M) too. After this, the TMC chairperson decided to sharpen her party's attack against the BJP and keep a distance from the Congress as well. A TMC leader said, “Our main advantage is our anti-BJP fight, which gave us credibility among minority voters. Now, our chairperson is returning to that path. She also is trying to unite regional parties so that they can jointly fight against the BJP. This will also make the Congress irrelevant.” According to Mamata, the total dues of West Bengal from the Centre amount to more than Rs one lakh crore. Meanwhile, the TMC is gearing up to rope in a large number of students and youths to participate in Abhishek's March 29 public meeting at Shahid Minar. The Yuva Trinamool and Trinamool Chhatra Parishad have called for the rally to protest the Centre's “anti-people” policies, “misuse” of central agencies and “deprivation” of Bengal. After the March 29 rally, Abhishek will also hold other public meetings in the district in April. His district tour will start from Alipurduar on April 8, party sources said. He will be in Bankura on April 12 and in Purba Bardhaman on April 17. Abhishek said he would visit north Bengal on April 20 and return from there to Arambagh on April 29. However, opposition parties alleged that Mamata is trying to shift focus from “corruption.” CPI(M) leader Md Selim said, “We have no problem in supporting the TMC if they honestly fight for the state's dues. But before that, the state government should provide detailed data on the dues and the Centre also should put out a white paper to give details on why it is not giving the dues. But we can not be part of the TMC's bargaining to save their leaders from jail.” Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “Mamata Banerjee is trying to give an advantage to the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. That is why she is doing such drama.”
