Trinamul to analyse rural poll performance in Jangalmahal

Kolkata: The Trinamul Congress is going to introspect its performance in the panchayat elections in Jangalmahal, even as the BJP has declared to oust chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s party from the tribal belt in the Lok Sabha elections next year.

The ruling party’s move comes after the rural polls results signalled significant rise in BJP’s vote bank in the tribal belt, comprising four districts: Jhargram, West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia, which were earlier the hotbed for Maoists when the Mamata Banerjee government came to power.

In Jhargram, out of 806 gram panchayat (GP) seats, 780 seats were contested in which the Trinamul bagged 373 seats. The ruling party, however, stumbled upon to find that the BJP came second, winning 329 seats. At the panchayat samiti (PS) level, 185 seats were contested out of 187. The Trinamul won 112 seats and the BJP, again, came second in the tally, winning 65 seats.

In the district zilla parishad (ZP), the Trinamul won 13 seats out of 16. The BJP opened its account, winning three seats. In Purulia, 1,921 GP seats were contested out of 1,944. The Trinamul won 837 seats, while the BJP bagged 644 seats, grabbing the second position. At the PS level, 441 seats were contested out of 446. The Trinamul won 232 seats. The BJP came second with 142 seats.

In the district ZP, the Trinamul won 25 seats out of 38 with the BJP at the second position with 10 seats. Two other districts — West Midnapore and Bankura — also witnessed BJP’s expansion in vote bank in the GP and PS level seats. “None have visited Jangalmahal as many times as chief minister Mamata Banerjee did, risking her life,” Trinamul secretary general Partha Chatterjee said on Friday.

“No one stood by the people there. We will definitely look into why the expected result did not come true in some parts there. I will not call it poor. But we will take a look into it,” he added.

His comments come after state BJP president Dilip Ghosh argued that the members of the tribal community switched to the saffron party after they were disgruntled with the Trinamul.

“We have seen earlier how the adivasi women run their households after collecting shaal and kendu leaves from the forest and selling them in the market. They are still doing the same. But Ms Banerjee claims Jangalmahal is smiling. This time Jangalmahal gave the answer to its deprivation. The Trinamul supremo claimed that the Maoists, CPI(M), Congress and BJP unitedly fought the polls. This is nothing but lies,” Mr Ghosh said.

The BJP MLA from Kharagpur wondered, “Where were the Maoists? Who were they with? We saw who travelled on a Maoist’s motorcycle as a pillion rider. After winning the elections she went to the Writers’ Buildings, they went to jail. Maoists like Kishanji cost his life for her victory. Chhatradhar Mahato is still behind bars.”

“The people of Jangalmahal did not forget the betrayal. That is why they gave their replies through ballots this time. But she is still branding them as Maoists. This is a big insult to the people of Jangalmahal. Whatever is left there, will be covered in the Lok Sabha elections. Jangalmahal will be free of the Trinamul,” Mr Ghosh added.