Raiganj, Oct. 4 -- Mamata All India Trinamool Congress (MAITC) held its first major public meeting at Sujali in Chopra Assembly constituency of North Dinajpur district on Sunday following the change of power in the state. A large number of party supporters from Chopra and Islampur attended the meeting.
During the programme, MAITC supremo Mamata Banerjee addressed the gathering over the mobile phone of Trinamool Congress MP from Sreerampur and MAITC leader Kalyan Banerjee. Her speech was relayed to the audience through the sound system.
Kalyan Banerjee addressed the gathering as the chief speaker. Itahar MLA Musaraf Hossain was also present at the meeting. Mamata Banerjee thanked the people of Chopra and Islampur for attending the meeting despite what she described as "constant torture." She alleged that some leaders who had been elected with the party's support had subsequently betrayed the party.
She appealed to party workers not to maintain relations with such leaders and said that MAITC would return to power in the state soon. She also stressed the importance of unity under the MAITC banner and claimed that the INDIA alliance would not become stronger without her party.
Meanwhile, Abdus Sattar and Shankar Baidya were announced as joint conveners of MAITC in Chopra. Kalyan Banerjee strongly criticised Islampur MLA Kanaiyalal Agarwal and Chopra MLA Hamidul Rahaman, alleging that they were now acting as "sycophants" of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.
Bandyopadhyay further alleged that 20 MPs who had joined the NCPI were "puppets of the BJP". He said MAITC had decided to politically fight the BJP in Murshidabad, Malda and Uttar Dinajpur and announced that he would hold meetings at different places in the three districts. He also expressed hope that Banerjee would soon visit different districts.
Abdus Sattar, Chopra MAITC convener, claimed that several thousand people, including pradhans and upa-pradhans from Chopra and Islampur, attended the meeting.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.