The Left Front has fielded 18 Kurmi leaders out of a total 45 Zilla Parishad seats in Purulia district for the panchayat elections. The organisational strength of Trinamul Congress is not that solid in Purulia districts and BJP had posed it a huge challenge in the 2018 threetier gram panchayat polls, 2019 Lok Sabha polls and also in the 2021 Assembly polls. In fact the TMC has suffered huge setbacks in the 2019 and 2021 polls. Since the past three months the districts of Junglemahal in South Bengal have been rocked by the Kurmi movement.
The Left Front leadership is trying to woo the huge Kurmi Mahato votebank in Purulia district and has made a tactical move, feel political experts here. Mr. Pradip Roy, convenor of Purulia district Left Front said that it is not true that this time so many Kurmi leaders have been given tickets to retain the kurmi vote bank. Last time also many Kurmi leaders were given tickets, he pointed out.
Mr. Ajit Prasad Mahato, the chief Kurmi leader of Purulia said that he has urged the people of the Kurmi community not to contest polls on the tickets of any recognised political party. “Our campaigns are going on and we will request all the candidates not to file nomination papers,” he said. Purulia was once a bastion of the Left Front, but since the 2018 panchayat polls, the vote bank has shifted towards to the saffron party and this time the Left Front’s district leadership is hopeful of wooing its vote bank back.
As the 100 days MNREGA work has stopped, many people of the district have become migrant labourers working in other districts and states. Purulia is one of the most backward districts in the state.