He said the Trinamool was focusing on building a strong organisational structure and cadre base in Uttar Pradesh…reports Asian Lite News.
The Trinamool Congress is looking towards an alliance with the Samajwadi Party for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, due early next year.
A decision on this is expected to be taken by the leaders of both the parties in the coming weeks.
The Trinamool has already launched its mass contact programme in Uttar Pradesh from Pilibhit where farmers had staged a protest on the issue of cane dues. At least two districts in each of the 18 divisions will be covered to gauge the mood of the people and their expectations.
Trinamool state president Neeraj Rai said, “We will tell the people about the policies implemented by us in West Bengal and will seek public feedback on the welfare policies of the state government. We will prepare the manifesto of the Trinamool Congress based on the expectations of the people.”
He said the Trinamool was focusing on building a strong organisational structure and cadre base in Uttar Pradesh.
“The party has added 100 committed members in more than 30 districts through the membership drive launched in May. The party leadership wants a strong unit in UP with a committed workforce ahead of the 2024 General Elections. Wherever we go, people want to know how we defeated the BJP in West Bengal,” he added.
Sources in the Samajwadi Party said that the alliance with Trinamool could materialise since Akhilesh Yadav shares a warm rapport with West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Chief Mamata Banerjee.
“Besides, she is now an opposition mascot who crushed communal forces in her state against all odds. Her campaign in UP will certainly boost the opposition in general,” said a SP spokesman.
No tickets for office-bearers in UP polls: BJP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh has made it clear that no office-bearer at the state level or district level would be eligible to contest elections. The party has said that if anyone was keen to contest polls, he or she would have to step down from the party post.
State BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh has already warned party leaders not to put up hoardings in their respective constituencies and claim their candidature.
According to sources, BJP’s general secretary (organisation), Sunil Bansal made this rule amply clear at a party meeting.
A BJP leader, who was present in the meeting, said that Bansal’s directive became talk of the meeting in which there were ample indications that several sitting MLAs may not get the ticket again.
Party sources said that the performance of the party in the panchayat elections would be one of the factors that would decide the fate of sitting MLAs.
“The MLAs in whose constituency the party fared poorly in panchayat elections may not get a ticket. Besides, reports of the party’s internal surveys about a legislator’s performance, will also be a deciding factor,” a party functionary said.
The BJP, in the past, had declared that relatives of party leaders would not be given a chance to contest panchayat elections. However, the party later gave preference to the winnability factor and willingly gave tickets to sons, daughters and wives of its leaders.
“In politics, rules are made to be broken and finally, it is the winnability factor that ultimately matters. It is only the performance of a legislator that can dilute the anti-incumbency factor. The party is determined to repeat its 2017 performance of 300+ seats and winnability is all that will matter,” said the functionary.
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