Kolkata: CM Mamata Banerjee is reaching out to voters residing in high-rises of Kolkata and Howrah over phone calls. Apart from seeking votes, she is asking them to approach the party representatives for any assistance.
The move has been part of an outreach campaign by Trinamool Congress to tap the voters who usually don’t attend public rallies or street corner meetings.
As part of the campaign, senior party functionaries are seeking appointments with residents’ welfare associations for a meet-and-greet opportunity inside the gated communities. After a brief conversation, the functionaries are calling CM Mamata Banerjee and are putting her on loudspeaker as she addresses the residents.
On Saturday morning — the last day of campaigning for the fifth phase — Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim visited Vivek Vihar complex at Shibpur along with senior leaders Arup Roy, Nandita Chowdhury, Gautam Chowdhury and Rana Chattopadhyay to campaign for Prasun Banerjee. At the meeting, held at the community centre from 10.30am, Hakim called up the CM who spoke to the residents.
“They said our representatives are always with you in any kind of need. Hope you will support us,” one of the residents said.
On Friday evening, a similar phone conversation took place at Ideal Grand complex, where MLA Babul Supriyo lives. During their visit to Ganges Garden, Hakim and other senior leaders also shared their phone numbers with the association seniors, assuring them of all help.
“It’s a strategic ploy where senior functionaries are visiting the complexes alongside the candidate but without any party workers. We kicked off this move from Howrah and will replicate the same in Kolkata, Bidhannagar and New Town,” said a senior party functionary.
Party officials said while usual campaign tactics like door-to-door visits and miking are also being done in multiple neighbourhoods, for the high-rises, the campaign ploy is limited to personal interactions within the premises without any slogan or party flags.
“It has been observed that BJP gains an edge by securing votes from high-rise housing complexes. The party leadership is taking various steps to bring those votes back to the Trinamool fold,” a party functionary said.
Incidentally, Trinamool had used similar campaign tactics during the 2021 Bhowanipore bypoll elections as well while campaigning for chief minister Mamata Banerjee when she had won by a huge margin of 58,000 plus votes.