WB CM Mamata makes surprise detour to Tribal village, cooks vegetables, drinks tea; WATCH

In an attempt to woo voters in tribal regions of Birbhum district, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday took a detour and made a surprise visit to a tribal vill. CM Banerjee joined in cooking vegetables along with Tribal women and assured that problems faced by m will be solved. Banerjee's tour to Birbhum came within days of ex-BJP president Amit Shah's two-day visit to district.

During two-day visit, Mamata Banerjee was seen sharing st with same Baul singer who sang for Shah and she held a rally on same street where Shah's rally took place. ruling TMC had suffered erosion in tribal support in Jangalmahal area comprising Jhargram, West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts and suffered electoral reverses in 2019 Lok Sabha polls in tribal belts of state.

CM Banerjee made a sudden detour and entered tribal vill while returning to Kolkata wrapping up a two-day visit to Bolpur in Birbhum district. Banerjee helped a tribal woman Rama Bagdi in cooking vegetables and had tea at adjacent stall of Babu Bagdi. She n offered prayers to deity of tribals nearby. "Consider me as a daughter of your house. Tell me about your problems. Have you been to 'Duare Sarkar' (government at doorstep) camp? Do you have Swasthya Sathi (cashless health scheme) card?," Banerjee asked villrs. When problem of toilets was raised by Tribal women, CM Banerjee told  accompanying district officials to construct toilets in every dwelling unit in area.

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Her visit to tribal vill, located near Sonajhuri haat in Santiniketan, evoked derision by BJP national general secretary and Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya, who said chief minister's sudden visit to tribal vill was thing but a "drama"

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Mamata's Birbhum visit

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata during her two-day visit held a mega roadshow in Birbhum district's Bolpur city. campaign in Bolpur area has revolved largely around Tribals and Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. While TMC has claimed twice that BJP leaders including Amit Shah have misquoted Tagore and that y have t read Gurudev's work on secularism, ex-BJP chief visited Visva Bharati, reminded ideals of Tagore and PM Modi even addressed Centenary celebration of University. 

Moreover, both TMC and BJP are trying ir best to show ir ground presence and ir connect to tradition of various part of Bengal. In Birbhum, where Baul is an important folk tradition, Home Minister Shah has luncheon at Baul singer Basudeb Das Baul's home and enjoyed his performance. TMC too called same singer for Mamata's rally.

READ | CM Mamata Shares St With Baul Singer Basudeb After Amit Shah's Lunch At His Home; WATCH

West Bengal assembly elections

West Bengal assembly with 294 seats will go to polls in April-May 2021, Trinamool holds 222 seats. BJP has made major inroads in state in Lok Sabha elections winning 18 seats and establishing itself as major Opposition force in state. Recently TMC trumped BJP in all 3 bypolls but BJP is using its booth-level strategy, has placed its top leaders including Amit Shah and JP Nadda in state for winning upcoming elections.

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