Kolkata: 24 years after the Trinamool Congress was formed on January 1, 1998 to oust the Left Front from power in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party is now going beyond the geographical boundaries of the state and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It is trying to give a direct competition to and establish its foothold across the country.
Banerjee had left the Congress and formed the Trinamool and now her party is trying to snatch this space from the country’s main opposition Congress by challenging it. Trinamool alleges that Congress has failed to fight against BJP. Despite the BJP’s massive campaign campaign in the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal, the Trinamool consolidated its position by securing a landslide victory. The party is trying to project Banerjee as the main opposition face against Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The party has formed units in Goa, Haryana, Tripura and Meghalaya in the last six months.
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The party barely had any meaningful existence in Meghalaya, but has emerged as the main opposition party in the northeastern state after 12 of the 17 Congress MLAs recently switched over to the Trinamool. As part of its strategy to expand nationally, the Trinamool has roped in Congress leader from Bihar and former BJP MP Kirti Azad, former Janata Dal (United) MP Pavan Verma, former Congress Haryana unit chief Ashok Tanwar, RTI activists from Delhi. Several leaders including Saket Gokhale, former Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev, former Goa Chief Minister Luizino Faleiro and former Union Minister Babul Supriyo have been inducted into the Trinamool.
A senior party leader told PTI, “The Trinamool Congress wants to remove its tag of a regional party. None of these recently inducted leaders are mass leaders, but they have their own identity and strength. The induction of these leaders is part of the plan to expand the party at the national level, so that we have a pan-India reach and a holistic approach before we plan for the 2024 Lok Sabha election strategy.”
The party has decided to change its constitution and expand its core committee to accommodate new people from diverse backgrounds. Party’s West Bengal unit general secretary Kunal Ghosh said, “Through its tenure in the last 10 years, the Trinamool has carved a niche for itself. Our development policies have not only gained national and international recognition, but have been followed by other states as well. We want to replicate the Bengal model at the national level as well.”
Trinamool contested the West Bengal Assembly elections in 2001 and 2006, but was not successful. It then won in 2011 by defeating the mighty Left Front. After this, the party continued to win in 2016 and 2021 as well. BJP and Congress have described Trinamool Congress’s national ambitions as “a dream which is impossible to fulfill”.