Dogged by charges of corruption, the TMC has launched one of its biggest “cleansing” drives since its inception and a massive mass outreach campaign to rebuild its image ahead of the panchayat polls this year and Lok Sabha polls next year.
The exercise comes when it has lost its national party status and its leaders are battling allegations of graft both in and outside courts.
Senior leaders like former minister Partha Chatterjee, two other MLAs, and Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal were arrested in connection with cases of school jobs scam and cattle smuggling since last year. TMC youth wing leader Kuntal Ghosh raised money from the job-seekers.
After conducting a few internal surveys, including one by political consultancy group I-PAC, to assess the functioning and conduct of its elected representatives and leaders at all levels of village council elections, the TMC recently launched a campaign where the party would choose candidates based on the feedback of people through a secret ballot system.
Leading the mass outreach programme “Trinamool-e Nabajowar” (new wave in Trinamool) from the front is the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who will crisscross the entire state for several weeks, and seek feedback from the masses on their preferable candidates, whom the party will nominate.
“This is for the first time that the party has launched a rectification drive to weed out rotten elements on such a grand scale. This will help us reach out to the people and address their grievances. It will also help build a stronger connection with the masses by validating their choices and aspirations,” senior TMC leader Sougata Roy said.
Roy said the choice of candidates for nearly 78,000 seats in the three-tier panchayat elections would be based on the feedback from the secret ballot system that is being undertaken during the campaign.