Mamata to visit Meghalaya, Tripura on Jan 7 to kickstart poll campaign

Agartala: Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will visit poll-bound states of Meghalaya and Tripura on January 7 and attend several political events relating to the election campaign, party leaders said on Tuesday.

Trinamool's Tripura state President Pijush Kanti Biswas said that in both Meghalaya and Tripura, Banerjee would address the party workers and attend few political programmes.

Banerjee, accompanied by her nephew and party's national General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee and other leaders, visited Meghalaya on December 12-13 and attended several events to rejuvenate the party in the northeastern state.

Biswas said that discussions have been going on with likeminded parties to forge an electoral alliance to defeat the BJP in the upcoming Assembly polls.

"The alliance with the like-minded party would be done on the basis of a common minimum programme and the coalition would be long-lasting. Our only aim would be to defeat the BJP anyhow," he told the media adding that their candidates' list is ready for the ensuing polls.

Some party leaders and members belonging to the CPI-M, BJP and the TIPRA have joined the Trinamool on Tuesday. Party sources said that the party has been doing hectic persuasion with the tribal-based party Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) headed by former royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman to get the political mileage in the 20 of the 60 tribal reserved seats in the state.

Assembly elections to Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Tripura are expected to be held in February 2023.