Kolkata: Eyeing the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Trinamool Congress’ national vice-president Abhishek Banerjee will tour the northeastern state of Assam this week. In all probability, he will be visiting Assam on May 11 and will stay there for a day or two, a senior leader of the party said on condition of anonymity.
He said that during his visit, Banerjee will hold meetings with the newly appointed state president of the party in Assam, Ripun Bora and Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Sushmita Dev to identify those Lok Sabha seats in Barak Valley, Cachar and Silchar, with substantially Bengali-speaking voters, where the Trinamool Congress can field candidates and can hope for positive results. Both Dev and Bora have joined the Trinamool Congress ending their long association with the Congress.
“It is true that in the recently concluded Assam assembly polls we did not contest. Similarly, we did not contest in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections also. But in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls our party will surely contest from both these states. And now with Bora and Dev on board, we are confident of strengthening our organisational strength in Assam. Our national general secretary will be going to Assam and outline the initial blueprint on these lines. He will also inaugurate a party office in Guwahati during his visit,” the Trinamool leader said.
According to him, not just in Assam but elsewhere in northeastern India, Congress has weakened substantially and the BJP is taking advantage of this to expand its network there. “Our supreme leader and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee feels that only the Trinamool Congress is able to fill the vacuum created by the weakening of the Congress in northeastern India. We are also holding talks with regional parties in the northeastern state.”
After Assam, Abhishek Banerjee will make extensive tours to other northeastern states and if necessary, Mamata Banerjee will also visit some of these states in the coming days, he added.
–IANS
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