Guwahati:
West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress boss Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday officially launched her party’s campaign for next month’s parliamentary elections in the northeastern states of Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura.
The campaign kicked off at a large public gathering in Mendipathar, North Garo Hills district of Meghalaya, attended by Trinamool leaders including Abhishek Banerjee. It came on the same day election dates for all three states were announced.
In her speech, Ms Banerjee announced that the Trinamool’s primary focus in the elections is to fend off the BJP and its ‘proxies’.
She specifically accused the Meghalaya government, led by Conrad Sangma of the National People’s Party (NPP), of being “a proxy government” for the BJP and “taking dictates” from Delhi and Guwahati – a veiled reference to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the BJP’s strategist in the northeast.
“If you want to change the corrupt and discredited government then there is no alternative to TMC. In Meghalaya you have a plenipotentiary government of center and Guwahati. BJP has two faces. Dual engine means they will say something before the elections and do something else after polls,” said a typically combative Ms Banerjee.
Ms Banerjee stated that the Trinamool is the only alternative for the people of Meghalaya who want to change the current “corrupt and discredited” government.
The meeting is gaining significance as Trinamool sees a real opportunity in Meghalaya and is also building up its party in Assam and Tripura as part of its national expansion plans ahead of the 2024 general election. It will be the party’s first electoral test outside Bengal after the disastrous show in Goa last year.
The Trinamool had previously emerged as the main opposition in Meghalaya with 12 Congress MLAs, led by former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, joining the party. However, three of them have since left the party.
The Trinamool has already declared candidates for 52 of the total 60 seats in Meghalaya and is making a concerted effort, led by Mamata Banerjee, to increase its presence in the northeastern region.
Tripura will vote for a new government on February 16, and Meghalaya and Nagaland on February 27, with results on March 2, the election commission announced on Wednesday.
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