Age and image: Key factors for Mamata Banerjee ahead of Bengal polls

As the Mamata Banerjeeled Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal gears up for a highvoltage Assembly polls scheduled in 2021 the party leadership is focusing on the young brigade at the grassroots primarily with a clean and clear track record in politicsThe states incumbent formation is already plagued with corruption charges in various districts especially after the Cyclone Amphan that ravaged a large part of south Bengal districts Be it distribution of food grains and tarpaulin in cycloneravaged pockets of Sunderbans or inclusion of ghost names in the list of beneficiaries Trinamool Congress name cropped up almost everywhereHundreds of people had staged sitin demonstrations in districts protesting against the irregularities over distribution of Amphan relief packages They also agitated over the irregularities of Cyclone Amphan relief funds that went to various fake accounts of local Trinamool leaders depriving those who were actually affected due to the cycloneAccording to party sources the key responsibilities are now being given to those who are aged below 40years and have a reasonably clean image in their respective localities There is a clear instruction from the partys top leadership to give importance to young people in the organisation All district committees will have to follow the directiveThe instruction was sent out from the senior state leadership to every booth level across West Bengal that people over the age group of 40 will not be entertained in the district committees The size of the district committees will also likely shrink in the coming days said a senior Trinamool leaderKeeping in mind the age factor and a considerably clean image of her party workers the Trinamool supremo has reshuffled the partys organisational structures in July To troubleshoot the partys image in run up to the next years elections Mamata Banerjee had made a number of changes in the Trinamool Congress from its core committee members to district presidentsAnnouncing a major rejig the West Bengal CM gave more priorities to younger and new faces in the partys forefront with a relatively clean political image She had announced a new state committee with 21 members in it and a sevenmember core panel of Trinamool Congress that included names of Abhishek Banerjee Subhendu Adhikari Partha Chatterjee Subrata Bakshi Firhad Hakim Kalyan Banerjee and Shanta ChetriBesides this the presidents of several districts including Howrah Coochbehar Purulia Nadia Jhargram and South Dinajpur had also been removed New and younger faces like cricketerturnedpolitician Laxmi Ratan Shukla in Howrah Mahua Moitra in Nadia Dulal Murmu in Jhargram Gurupad Tudu in Purulia and Shyamal Santra in Bankura had been given charge of the districtsParty insiders said that Team Prashant Kishor popularly known as Team PK within Trinamool Congress is working closely with the partys top leadership to find many critical areas Various steps like preparing a unique database of localities fights between internal factions performance record of local leaders etc are being taken into account to chalk out a campaign strategy ahead of the next years poll a Trinamool Congress insider saidKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever