KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will travel to Delhi on January 28 after attending a rally in Singur in Hooghly district.
Her Delhi visit is aimed at intensifying her protest against the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the state.
Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP from Diamond Harbour and the party’s national general secretary, is scheduled to leave for Delhi on Tuesday evening.
According to party insiders, he will join Mamata in the protest programme against the ECI.
The two top leaders of the ruling party will remain in Delhi till February 3, party insiders said, requesting anonymity.
Earlier, Mamata was scheduled to visit the national capital in February, but the schedule has been changed, according to sources at the state secretariat.
Sources from both the secretariat and the TMC said the six-day visit of the two leaders to Delhi is significant in the context of the SIR.
The SIR exercise has already removed 58 lakh voters from the electoral rolls. Notices have also been issued to around 1.5 crore voters under the ‘logical discrepancies’ and ‘unmapped’ categories, asking them to appear at hearing centres across the state.
Sources added that the programme schedules during their stay in the national capital will be finalised after they land there.
TMC MPs and other party leaders, led by Mamata, are likely to stage a dharna in front of the Nirvachan Sadan from Thursday, demanding that the ECI stop the SIR process.
“The party supremo will lead the dharna, but we are not sure whether the Delhi Police will allow the protest programme in front of the ECI headquarters or the Parliament Bhavan,” sources add.
The West Bengal Chief Minister is reportedly upset over alleged deaths linked to the SIR process in the poll-bound state.
Despite writing several letters to Chief Electoral Officer Gyanesh Kumar, she remains dissatisfied with the response from the poll body.
Party insiders say this has pushed her to take the protest to the national stage.
Senior TMC leaders said Mamata’s planned visit to Delhi will also focus on building a broader opposition consensus against the SIR.
The SIR process began in Bengal on 4 November last year. On the same day, Mamata and Abhishek Banerjee led a march on the streets of Kolkata.
Recently, Abhishek Banerjee hinted that the party chief would visit Delhi to highlight the situation in the state and intensify political attacks on the Chief Electoral Officer.
Another party source said there may be other reasons behind their extended stay in Delhi.
This comes at a time when Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present the Budget in Parliament on 1 February. The Budget session is expected to continue for at least two weeks after that.
“It’s not yet clear whether she will seek any appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi or other heavyweights in the Central cabinet to discuss issues related to Bengal during the budget session,” the source said, adding, “The I-PAC-related case may also be heard in the Supreme Court during her stay in Delhi. Both Mamata and Abhishek may also hold a meeting with lawyers like Kapil Sibal to discuss the case.”
The Enforcement Directorate, which is probing an alleged money laundering case linked to the coal smuggling scam, carried out search operations at the residence of Pratik Jain, director of I-PAC, a political consultancy firm engaged by the TMC, and at the I-PAC office in Kolkata, on 8 January.
During the operation, Mamata Banerjee arrived at both locations and took away documents and electronic devices from the spot while the searches were underway.
