With an eye on the Lok Sabha polls, Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Friday met with party leaders and workers from Murshidabad and asked to work together to put up a united fight. Miss Banerjee, who met with the party leaders at her Kalighat residence this evening, will also be meeting leaders from all the districts over the next few weeks. She will meet the leaders from Birbhum on 21 January.

he will visit the districts from February. Abhishek Banerjee, party’s national general secretary, Subrata Bakshi, state president of the party, Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim attended the meeting. All the MLAS and MPs from the district were present at the meeting. Miss Banerjee reportedly told the leaders to concentrate on their own work and not to worry about Congress MP and PCC president Adhir Chowdhury.

“Remove Adhir Chowdhury from your head and if we work together Adhir is no factor,” she is said to have told the leaders. The Trinamul Congress has 22 MLAs in the district and two Lok Sabha MPs from Murshidabad and Jangipur seats, while the Congress’s Adhir Chowdhury was elected from Behrampur.

The Trinamul utilised the massive erosion in the electoral support base of Congress in the district and has virtually made the party insignificant in a district which was its stronghold since 1952 when the first national election was held. Mr Chowdhury is said to have demanded eight Lok Sabha seats in Bengal for the Congress for the coming elections.

Mr Abhishek Banerjee has already called this described this claim as absurd. The Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge has not said anything about Adhir’s demand. In view of the situation, Miss Banerjee, it was learnt, told the MLAs to increase their contact base and talk to the people and inform them about the various pro-people schemes of the government.

They should also make people aware as to how the Centre has deprived the state and refused to issue the stipulated funds. She cautioned the leaders and said the party would not tolerate any highhandedness and those who are seeking to make personal gains should stay away from the party. Mr Banerjee, Mr Bakshi and Mr Hakim also spoke at the meeting.