Kolkata South: TMC asks councillors to ensure party leads in all wards

Kolkata: In a bid to ensure the BJP gets no lead in votes in the Kolkata South constituency which is considered as the fort of the ruling party of the state, Trinamool Congress (TMC) is focusing on a coordinated approach between party councillors and block committee workers.

Recently, Mayor and Kidderpore MLA of TMC, Firhad Hakim met his party’s councillors in a city hotel for a briefing relating to election campaign work. It was learnt that clear instructions were given to ensure that the BJP trails in every ward. In the last 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP was leading in at least 26 wards, it was learnt. However, this time it was clarified that no mistakes can be afforded.

It came to light that the Trinamool councillors were asked to play a proactive role in reaching out to people and urging them to vote for the party’s Kolkata South candidate Mala Roy, who is also the Kolkata Municipal Corporation chairperson.

The party has especially focused on the 26 wards where BJP got a lead last time. Roy will be holding party workers’ meetings in these wards, apart from reaching out to the voters of the seat.

Further, it was learnt that Debashish Kumar, Rashbehari MLA and Kolkata South district president of the party has instructed councillors that they need to also coordinate with the workers of the block committee.

In the last Lok Sabha elections, BJP was leading from several wards in Assembly constituencies of many heavyweight TMC leaders, including party supremo Mamata Banerjee from Bhawanipore. The Trinamool believes that it needs to take full advantage of the fact that the BJP has a “weak organisaton” in Kolkata South which is represented by several heavyweight ministers of state cabinet including the chief minister.

In 2019 Parliamentary polls, TMC candidate Mala Roy had garnered a total of 47.48 per cent votes approximately while BJP’s candidate Chandra Kumar Bose could garner 34.62 per cent votes.