Eyeing the West Bengal panchayat polls next year, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday makes big promises for north Bengal, a tough turf for her Trinamool Congress since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
In 2019, Trinamool candidates conceded defeat in all the eight constituencies in north Bengal. In the 2021 Assembly polls, despite bagging a landslide victory, the party's performance was extremely poor in the two north Bengal districts of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar, where it managed victory in just three out of 12 Assembly constituencies.
While attending a mass wedding function of the people from the tribal communities from these two districts at Alipurduar on Wednesday, the Chief Minister said that despite a lot of work done by the state government for these two districts, her party could not perform well in the past elections.
"However, despite that I am determined to pursue the development activities here. Now we have decided to focus on home tourism in the region now. Anyone willing to set up home tourism units here will get a financial assistance of Rs 1,00,000 each from the state government," she said.
Understanding that the Jalpaiguri-Alipurduar belt has become a strong BJP bastion since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Banerjee also launched a scathing attack against BJP and Union government on various issues.
"The Union government is holding back central funds for various development projects including the one for 100-day work. Before every election, BJP promises re-opening of the closed tea gardens in this region.
But after winning the polls they just vanished. Now, they are speaking of separate statehood for north Bengal," she said.A total 510 tribal couples participated in the mass wedding function on Wednesday which was organized by the West Bengal Police. The Chief Minister herself danced with the tribal women on the occasion.