Panchayat Polls: Trinamool, BJP Lock Horns At Each Other’s Fiefdoms

With the fall of December, heavy-weight Trinamool Congress (TMC) and state BJP leaders have locked horns for the 2023 Panchayat polls. Both the parties have been indulging in organising counter rallies as a show of strength and their organisational hold of the area. Recently, the state witnessed the most high voltage rallies, where TMC’s National general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP targeted each other’s fiefdoms with their choice of rally venues. While Abhishek held a rally at Contai near the residence of Adhikari, the latter chose to address a gathering at Diamond Harbour, the constituency that the TMC national general secretary represents in Lok Sabha. However, both the leaders moved the court in order to hold the rallies and later directly challenged each other at their respective public meetings. Adhikari has been quoting multiple dates saying the present Didi’s government will not last beyond December and the state will have assembly elections along with Lok Sabha election in 2024. However, BJP sources have said that quoting dates has not gone down well with the BJP high command. Besides taking on TMC’s second in command, Adhikari held a rally at Didi’s home turf at Harzra. Interestingly, Adhikari backtracked from his claim of toppling the government in December, instead giving a fresh date of January 13.