KOLKATA: Showcasing herself as the sole candidate in all 294 assembly seats, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee is all set to sound the poll bugle from December 7.
Banerjee is going by her strategy she adopted in the 2016 assembly polls when the ruling party was facing a challenge from the Left Front-Congress alliance, a one-of-its-kind electoral adjustment in the state.
Sources in the party have said that the TMC chief will appeal to the electorates to vote for her keeping in mind that she is the candidate on all the constituencies.
At a recent rally in Bankura last week, Banerjee already said that she is the party observer in all the districts.
"In 2016, the chief minister portrayed herself as the candidate on all the seats, following which the party secured its electoral dividend. With TMC's debacle in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the party has decided to adopt the same strategy to combat BJP's inroads in the state," a senior party leader said.
Mamata will address a rally on December 7 in Midnapore inviting all functionaries from East and West Midnapore district. Her decision of addressing the rally is significant in the backdrop of the resignation of Suvendu Adhikary from the state cabinet, the chief minister’s lieutenant.
"Asking TMC functionaries from East Midnapore to attend the CM’s rally in Midnapore is politically significant. Since Adhikari claims to have a strong support base in 14 Assembly constituencies out of 16 in East Midnapore, the CM will gauge the party’s ground-level strength after his resignation,’’ said another senior TMC leader.
Adhikari’s father Sishir Adhikary is a TMC MP from Contai and his brother Dibyendu Adhikari is an MP from Tamlik.
"The CM’s meeting in Midnapore is important to see whether Sishir or Dibeyendu turn up. If they don’t show up at the meeting, it will send a message and the party will take its own course,’’ said a TMC leader, further adding that the party supremo will deliver a message from the rally. "We are going to bank on her image of a sole fighter, no matter who the enemy is. Whether it was CPI(M) then BJP now."