WITH NE EXIT POLLS OUT, BJP LAUNCHES MASSIVE OUTREACH DRIVE IN RURAL BENGAL

With the exit polls to Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya out, the West Bengal unit of the BJP has launched a mass outreach programme aimed at the rural population months ahead of the panchayat elections in West Bengal. BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar launched the “Gram Samparkha Abhiyan” in the Purba Medinipur district and without wasting time, the ruling Trinamool Congress claimed that the saffron camp has copied its programme.

“In West Bengal, under the corrupt TMC rule, the poor people do not have access to basic services like sanitisation and housing facilities. The Gram Sampark Abhiyan is to assure people and listen to their problems and ensure they get the benefits of the central schemes,” Majumdar said while launching the programme.

The mass outreach programme, which was launched with an eye on the panchayat polls likely to be held in AprilMay this year, will cover around more than 2,000 villages and 100 rural assembly constituencies of the state.

It may be noted that the programme comes nearly two months after the TMC had launched a mass outreach campaign, ‘Didir Suraksha Kavach’ (Didi’s Protective Shield), to check and ensure that people received benefits from the pro-people projects of the state government.

TMC’S POLL PROSPECTS IN NE

Political observers see the Meghalaya elections as the TMC’s best chance for expanding in the Northeast, a region it has been eyeing since its inception in 1998. The party, however, failed to build on some successes it had in the beginning.