Mamata launches ‘speak to Didi” website

With an eye on the next Assembly elections in the state, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday launched a website called www.didikebolo.com (speak to didi.com) to boost direct contact with people. She made the announcement along with several other public outreach programs after a meeting with all the elected representatives of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) excluding the MPs as the Parliament session is going on.

The TMC supremo said that the key objective of the campaign is to enhance direct contact with the people by using both conventional and digital means of public communication. Banerjee also announced a phone number through which the people of the state express their grievances to the party.

“They (people) can also reach out to us by logging on to www.didikebolo.com (speak to didi.com)...The election is more than a year away. So we are not starting the election campaign now. We are preparing a digital platform so that the people can directly contact us,” said Banerjee.

Apart from her digital public outreach, Banerjee announced that elected representatives and senior leaders of TMC will visit more than 10,000 villages and cities in the state to interact with the locals. They will also have to spend a night in those villages and cities and mingle with the booth level workers.

“More than 1000 elected representatives and party workers of TMC will visit more than 10,000 villages and towns. They will also spend a night there. During these visits, they will listen to the people. Party’s state headquarters will decide which leader which visit which place,” said Banerjee.

However, the Chief Minister said that she is not yet starting the campaign for the Assembly elections as it is still more than a year away. The Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in West Bengal in 2021.

She refuted the claims made in certain media reports that TMC has decided to appoint salaried party workers or “whole timers” like CPI(M) and BJP.

“A section of the media has reported that we (TMC) will appoint whole timers (salaried party workers). But it is not true. They reported this without getting a confirmation from us. Our party is a poor party. I always demand electoral reform so that there can be state funding of parties,” said Banerjee.