Arindam
Sarkar
Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee will slam the BJP and the CPI(M) and highlight the
achievements of the Trinamool Congress government in Bengal before giving the
clarion call for the 2016-middle Assembly elections in the Martyr’s Day Rally
at Brigade Parade Grounds in Kolkata on July 21, 2015.
In
the rally, Mamata Banerjee would also declare that in the next six months her
State government and the people’s representatives – MPs and MLAs – would
complete all the development projects that have been promised to the people.
Though relations between Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has improved considerably since the PM’s visit to Kolkata in May
2015 and their joint visit to Dhaka in June 2015, this would not stop the
Bengal CM from hammering the BJP in order to keep the Muslim votes of Bengal intact.
The BJP improved its vote-bank from six to 17 percent in the
Lok Sabha polls in 2014. However, the BJP support base subsequently dipped and
it reflected in the elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and other
municipalities in the State. “Mamata’s hobnobbing with Modi has created a
confusion among the Muslims. And to consolidate the 28 per cent Muslim
vote-bank that is strongly behind Mamata, she is going to lambast the BJP,”
said a Trinamool leader.
Mamata knows the CPI(M) and the Congress would pose
challenge to the Trinamool in some pockets of North and South 24 Parganas,
Bankura, Purulia, Murshidabad, Malda, North Dinajpur and parts of North Bengal.
Mamata is banking on the rural development works done by her government in
these districts to defeat the Marxists and the Congress.
“Development work done by the Trinamool government in rural
Bengal would ensure a comfortable second term,” said State panchayat minister
Subrata Mukherjee.
According to sources, Mamata has set a stiff target for the
Trinamool in the next Assembly polls. In 2011, Trinamool secured 185 out of the
294 Assembly seats. In her second term, Mamata wants nothing less than 220
seats. Senior party leaders said that the CM’s constant visibility, direct
contact with the people’s representatives of all levels and moving with
bureaucrats from Kolkata to the villages to expedite development works has
created a huge mass appeal for Mamata.
“More than the organizational work, it is Mamata’s appeal
and transparent administration that is going pay off in the polls. Mamata
nowadays is running both the government and the party,” said senior Trinamool
leader Nirbed Roy.
Talking about the Opposition to Mamata, Nirbed Roy, who recently
travelled with Mamata to Jhargram, West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura, said
that people are absolutely moved to see their CM at so close quarters solving
their problems – so frequently. “In Jhargram, we crossed three Assembly
constituencies and not a single Opposition flag was visible. Mamata wave is
going to wipe out the Opposition in the next Assembly elections,” added Nirbed
Roy.
Party sources revealed, Mamata is not only following up on
the development works launched by her, but is making her MPs and MLAs
accountable for the projects that are being executed in their respective
constituencies.
