Leaders as well as senior party workers associated with the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) in the Siliguri organisational district are preparing to attend the party’s silver jubilee celebrations, which are scheduled to be held at the Nazrul Mancha in Kolkata on 2 January 2023.

The Trinamool Congress was formed in January 1998, when Mamata Banerjee broke away from the Congress to form her party. Party sources said AITC chief Mamata Banerjee will launch the party’s outreach programme in the presence of thousands of Trinamool leaders and activists. According to political observers, keeping an eye on the forthcoming panchayat elections, the AITC leadership will ask party leaders to showcase the multifaceted package of social welfare schemes that the state government has to offer. Party sources also said that AITC chairperson Mamata Banerjee will address hundreds of enthusiastic party workers, including MPs, MLAs and state ministers.

Asked to comment, Siliguri organisational district president of the TMC Papiya Ghosh said officials of the district and block committees, along with members of the Trade Union, Mahila and Youth frontals of the party, Mayor Deputy Mayor and other office bearers will also be present at the event. According to Ms Ghosh, the AITC chairperson as well as Chief Minister may ask party leaders to reach out to the people to know how they have benefited from the state government’s social welfare schemes and who are still deprived.

Ms Ghosh also said that the proposed committees of wards in urban areas and in anchals in rural areas have not yet been approved by the party. Hopefully, it would be approved soon, she added. Notably, Miss Banerjee and TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee is scheduled to make important announcements, and will launch a comprehensive outreach programme that will reach out to crores of households across a wide expanse of the state, including over 3,000 gram panchayats, party sources said. Notably, before the general elections in 2021 in West Bengal, the AITC had launched similar outreach events like ‘Didi Ke Bolo’, ‘Banglar Gorbo Mamata’ and ‘Bangla Nijer Meyeke Chaai’.

These programmes had earned rich dividends for the party, which returned to power for the third time in the state with a sweeping majority, party sources said. According to party sources, the outreach programme will be attended by senior lawmakers and hundreds of party workers to ensure that no resident of Bengal is left behind when it comes to accessing the social welfare schemes provided by the Bengal government.