Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will be in north Bengal on a three-day visit next week.
Mamata was last in the region in January when she had visited Malda and Alipurduar.
“We will be in north Bengal from May 19 to 21... I will attend ‘Synergy’ with trade bodies, a public distribution programme, and an administrative review meeting of all eight north Bengal districts,” Mamata told journalists in Nabanna on Wednesday.
Synergy, hosted by the Trinamool government in recent years, is a meeting among trade bodies, prospective investors and different state government departments to encourage private investments in the micro, small, and medium (MSME) sector.
The chief minister said she would attend the event on May 19, followed by a public service distribution programme in Odlabari of Jalpaiguri on May 20. On May 21, she will hold the administrative review meeting at Uttarkanya, the branch secretariat of the state located in Siliguri.
"We conduct administrative review meetings of districts regularly. Representatives of some of the districts like Malda, North and South Dinajpurs will join the meeting in virtual mode while those from other districts will be there at Uttarkanya,” said Mamata.
She added that representatives of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the administrative body in the hills, would also be present at the meeting.
Mamata's visit assumes significance as just a year is left for the Assembly elections. In 2021, Trinamool had won 23 of 54 Assembly seats in north Bengal. The BJP had bagged 30 seats.
However, in the three bypolls that followed, the TMC won all three.
“The chief minister and senior leaders of the party are steadfastly focusing on north Bengal, a region where the saffron camp has managed to consolidate its base over the past 10 years,” said a political observer.
He pointed out that this would be Mamata’s first visit to the region after protests in the tea belt following the state’s decision to increase the quantum of unused tea garden land for tourism and allied activities.
The protests were so intense that Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha chief Anit Thapa, who heads the GTA and is an ally of the TMC in the hills, wrote to the state, seeking a change in the decision.
Eventually, Mamata announced from Nabanna that they had amended the decision, while repeatedly stating that it would not affect the tea industry or the interest of the tea workers in any manner.
In north Bengal, the tea population decides the results of around 12 Assembly seats.
“Trinamool has introduced a slew of schemes for the tea workers and their families," the political observer said. But this (alternative use of unused tea garden land) is an important issue for the brew belt, and some of the parties are still vocal about it. Considering the importance of the voters of the tea belt in the Assembly polls, there might be some more assurances during the visit of the chief minister,” the observer added.