KOLKATA: Election strategist Prashant Kishor advised district-level leaders of the Trinamool to avoid political clashes saying political violence never goes in favour of any ruling party and instead gives the opposition political space.
Kishor held a meeting with Trinamool’s district presidents on Friday evening where chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee and the party’s secretary general Partha Chatterjee were also present.
‘‘He advised us to allow our political rivals to carry out their activities. He wants us to give our opposition political space so that we can gauge our strength and weakness in ground reality. Besides, if other political parties are allowed to carry out their activities, it will increase the possibilities of dividing opposition’s votes,’’ said a TMC district president.
In his advisories, Kishore pointed out that political clashes trigger resentment among common people and they lose their faith on the administrations run by the ruling party.
He advised Trinamool leaders to select 15 suitable workers from each Assembly constituency who will collect information from ground level and inform the party’s district leaders.
The workers will also be in touch with Kishor’s teams working at ground level.
Kishor asked the ruling party’s leaders not to hurry because they have more than a years’ time before the Assembly polls. The district leaders have been advised to ask local leaders to interact with apolitical electors in their areas to gauge their mood and political affiliation.
Kishor also asked the ruling party’s leaders to instruct the TMC MLAs and ministers to spend at least seven days in their constituencies in a month.
Meanwhile, eight TMC councillors of Kanchrapara municipality in North 24-Parganas, who went to BJP’s national headquarters in Delhi and joined the saffron camp, returned to the fold of the ruling party on Saturday.
Trinamool leader shot dead
A Trinamool leader was dragged out of his car and shot dead while returning from a mosque in Murshidabad on Friday.
Safiul Hassan was shot from point blank range. His wife Ardasha Bibi is the pradhan of Humaipur gram panchayat