Ahead of Abhishek Banerjee’s Tripura visit, party hoardings found torn; Trinamool blames BJP

Abhishek Banerjee – Trinamool Congress national general secretary – is visiting Tripura on Monday. But even before Banerjee reached the Northeastern state, Trinamool Congress banners and hoardings were found torn, leading to a tense situation. The hoardings and banners contained not only Abhishek Banerjee’s photographs, but also Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s pictures.

Trinamool Congress has alleged that the posters and banners were damaged by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was alleged that the hoardings and banners along the road to the airport were damaged at night.

Abhishek Banerjee is scheduled to reach Tripura’s Tripureshwari temple from the airport, and later, he will hold a press conference at 3 pm. Other senior leaders of the party have reached Tripura already, including Bratya Basu, Ritobrata Bandopadyay, Moloy Ghatak, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, among others.  Last week, some members of Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC team – which is working for Trinamool Congress as the party’s poll strategist – were not allowed to step out of a hotel in Agartala. The ruling government was blamed by the Trinamool for this. Police had even called the I-PAC staff for questioning.

Trinamool Congress has been increasing its political activities in Tripura. Last week, a former minister and several MLAs have joined the Trinamool Congress. Under this backdrop, the visit of Abhishek Banerjee – who is now the party’s national general secretary – is being seen as politically significant.