With Mamata Banerjee’s “padayatras” drawing thousands, the ruling CPI-M not to be outdone has also planned a similar roadshow on coming Saturday by chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in his Jadavpur constituency in the city’s southern part.
“Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will participate in a roadshow from the Jadavpur police station to Sonarpur covering a distance of seven kms,” CPI(M) state secretariat member Robin Deb said. Deb insisted there was no question of the chief minister taking a leaf out of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's book.
“On the contrary, it is Mamata who is following in the footsteps of CPI-M which had in the past organised huge processions on issues of public importance in the city and elsewhere, in some of which Buddhada himself took a leading part," Deb, who is looking after CPI-M's campaign in the Jadavpur constituency, said. Last Sunday, Banerjee along with former state chief secretary Manish Gupta, who is the candidate of her party in the Jadavpur constituency against Bhattacharjee, at her side organised a mammoth padayatra covering several constituencies. She walked the 12-km route from Gariahat to Garia in one of the most successful road shows organised by the Trinamool Congress. In her earlier padayatras too, people participated overwhelmingly to catch a glimpse of the leader who is widely perceived to be the next chief minister of the state. Mamata has already held five such road shows in the city and its outskirts in the last two weeks including the Jadavpur constituency.
Last evening, Banerjee held a well-attended padayatra in the Muslim-dominated areas of the city from Ekbalpur to Metiabruz. —PTI