Balurghat has a Union minister, yet no central development: Abhishek
The Statesman | 1 April 2026
Trinamul Congressnational general secretary Abhishek Banerjee addressed a rally at Balurghat Town Club ground in Balurghat today where he highlighted the attempts to spread fear in Bengal in the name of SIR.
Abhishek was canvassing for candidate Arpita Ghosh, who was also the MP from this place for five years. Besides her, there were five other candidates, including Biplab Mitra, Chintamoni Biha, Gautam Das, and Toraf Hossain Mondal.
“You have seen how, in the last six months, there have been attempts to spread fear in Bengal in the name of SIR. Over the past five years, they have deprived and humiliated the people of Bengal simply because they could not win here democratically. They have stopped the rightful funds meant for the people of Bengal ~ 100-days work, Jal Jeevan Mission, Gram Sadak Yojana, and even Awas funds. They have even tried to take away your voting rights,” said Abhishek.
Yesterday, I had a rally in Baghmundi, Purulia, and during that rally I received information that there is an attempt to illegally include people from Bihar and UP in Bengal’s voter rolls. Today as well, I received information that 800 illegal voters from Bihar have been added in Midnapore, said the TMC leader.
He spoke of no development by the Centre at the constituency despite it having a Union minister from the area. “They speak of a double engine government, but the reality of this “double engine” is best known to the people of Balurghat. For the last seven years, Balurghat has had a BJP MP who is also a Union Minister, yet he could not bring any additional developmental work for the people of Balurghat—neither he nor any other BJP leader. People have received benefits from several schemes under us, but the BJP has been in power for the last 12 years and has done nothing for the people except cause inflation. LPG prices rose from Rs 400 to Rs 1,000, tea from Rs 150 to Rs 400, and milk from Rs 27–28 to Rs 60–62, added the TMC MP.
Talking of local development by the state government, Abhishek said: “Since we came to power, in Balurghat we have built a super-specialty hospital, CCU, SNCU, dialysis centre, and started chemotherapy facilities. We have constructed a polytechnic college in Hili. We have built a bridge over here. In Balurghat, we have established Dakshin Dinajpur College. In Tapan’s Bowalda GP, Rs 60 lakh has been allocated for a primary healthcare unit, and the pathology unit has already started. In Patiram and Nazipur, health and wellness units have been set up. An extended campus of Uttar Banga Krishi Vishwavidyalaya has been established. In 2012, an ITI college was set up in Danga GP. Besides this, several road development works have been completed under the Uttarbanga Development Department.”