Mamata to Launch New Mass Outreach Programme Monday

Kolkata, Mar 1 (PTI) With an eye on the upcoming municipal polls in the state, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is set to launch a new mass outreach programme on Monday.

Trinamool Congress sources said the new mass outreach campaign would focus on the developmental work done by the Mamata Banerjee government since 2011.

Banerjee has convened a meeting of the councillors, chairmen, vice-chairmen and senior leaders of the party- controlled municipalities on March 2 at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here to prepare the strategy for the upcoming municipal polls in the state.

The elections to 107 municipalities and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), to be held this year, are being dubbed as "mini assembly elections" ahead of the 2021 state polls.

"Apart from spelling out the strategy for the upcoming municipal elections in the state, a new mass outreach programme would be launched to cater to the civic areas which is likely go to polls in April-May," a senior TMC leader said.

It will be different from the "Didi Ke Bolo" (Tell Didi) initiative, he added.

"In the last nine years, we have done lots of developmental work in Junglemahal and North Bengal. But due to lack of proper campaign, we failed to reach out to the people. We will fix those gaps through this new programme," another TMC leader said.

In the last Lok Sabha polls, BJP emerged as a prime challenger of the TMC in Bengal and won almost all the Lok Sabha seats spread across North Bengal and Junglemahal area in South Bengal.

Like the "Didi Ke Bolo" campaign, the new programme is also a brainchild of poll strategist Prashant Kishor and his team I-PAC, the TMC leader said.

According to TMC sources, the decision was taken following the massive response to the three-phased 'Didi ke Bolo' initiative, which provided a platform to the people to directly report their complaints to Banerjee.

Banerjee in July last year had launched a helpline number and a website as part of the outreach programme on the advice of poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who was appointed by the TMC after its Lok Sabha poll reverses.

The outreach programme had received a huge response in its first month with more than 10 lakh people registering their grievances, party sources said.

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