Mamata Banerjee launches new TMC campaign 'Didi Ke Bolo', will address public grievances

West Bengal Chief Minister and All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on July 29 launched a high-powered political campaign. The campaign was seemingly launched with an eye on the next Assembly election in the state.

Over 1,000 Trinamool leaders and workers will be heading to Bengal’s villages over the next 100 days to learn about people’s issues, Banerjee announced at a press conference in state capital Kolkata. “Party will decide who will go to which village and when,” Banerjee said.

The announcement came after Banerjee’s meeting with TMC MLAs and senior party functionaries.

Banerjee also launched a party helpline number and a website to reach out to the masses and address their grievances.

"People can directly get in touch with us on the helpline number and the website and speak about issues affecting them. We will try and address them," Banerjee said.

This is also the first major campaign launched by the Trinamool after getting political strategist Prashant Kishor on board. The party had signed up for Kishor’s services after the 2019 Lok Sabha election. It was reported that Kishor did not attend the TMC meeting on July 29 to help maintain focus on the campaign.

While Kishor belongs to Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal (United), he also runs a policy outfit called the Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC). JD(U) is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

TMC had won 22 out of the West Bengal’s 42 parliamentary seats, down from the 34 it had won in 2014. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had so far maintained a marginal presence in the state, registered a stunning rise from two seats on 2014 to 18 this time. Many within West Bengal’s ruling party now believe that their key opponent is the BJP, not the traditional rival Left Front.

Taking a dig at the BJP, Banerjee said, “All parties are not like the BJP, my party is very poor and therefore I speak on electoral reforms.”

Kishor has previously helped a number of political parties retain or come to power. Most recently, IPAC was involved in managing YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s successful campaign in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly polls. State election in West Bengal is due in 2021.