Anti-Centre narrative to be Trinamool's main election plank for panchayat polls

Kolkata, April 8 Trinamool Congress' national General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee made it clear on Saturday that an out-and-out anti-Centre narrative would be the main tone of the party's campaign for the forthcoming panchayat polls in West Bengal scheduled later this year.

Addressing a public rally in Alipurduar district in North Bengal, the Trinamool Lok Sabha member said the narrative will be that the Union government is depriving the people of rural Bengal by holding back funds under different centrally-sponsored projects out of vendetta after being rejected by the people of the state in the 2021 Assembly polls.

Banerjee also launched a scathing attack against Union minister Giriraj Singh for "deliberately" avoiding a meeting with a delegation of Trinamool MPs led by him recently in Delhi.

"The day we went to meet the Union minister at his office, he was in Delhi. But he did not meet us. The secretary of his department told us that the minister was in Bihar then. But in reality, he was in Delhi on that day," Banerjee said.

He also claimed that around 20 lakh members have been denied their dues on account of the 100-day job scheme under MGNREGA, just because the Union government has not released funds under the scheme.

Banerjee asserted that Trinamool will launch a state-wide movement over Centre's reluctance to release funds from April 16, a day after the Bengali New Year.

"If necessary, we will take this movement to the national capital," he said.

Alipurduar being part of the tea belt of the state, Banerjee in his speech spared substantial time over the plight of the tea garden workers.

He also set a deadline for the Union government to solve the provident fund-related issues faced by the tea garden workers.