The execution of the direct-contact leg of Mamata Banerjee’s mega outreach initiative appears challenging, although the initial response to the Didi Ke Bolo communication drive through telephone and digital channels has been overwhelming.

For on-the-ground outreach, 1,000 elected representatives will be spending nights at 10,000 villages over 100 days. But as Trinamul Congress MLAs embark on the meet-and-greet exercise in villages from Friday night, the leadership is unsure of the response in places with a strong Opposition presence.

The details of the visits have been handed down by the top leadership that worked on advice from poll consultant Prashant Kishor’s team, sources said, and every MLA is likely to land up in at least one “BJP-friendly” place.

The sources said the Trinamul leadership had for now advised the district units to skip places where the party has become weak in the aftermath of the general election, in which the BJP secured leads in 121 of Bengal’s 294 Assembly segments.

“There will be opportunities to do this later. For the first phase this weekend, tricky places are best avoided. It is better to be safe than sorry at this stage,” said a Trinamul leader.

He foresaw a “wide range” of problems — from cut money refund demands to people’s pent-up anger boiling over.

The leadership’s direction, attributed to Team Kishor, is for all 230-odd Trinamul MLAs to visit villages in their constituencies and spend the night there, interacting with the masses and finding out about their problems and demands.

Each MLA has been given a list of five persons, including at least one known BJP worker, from every village for interactions.

Sources said when the idea was being mulled, several MLAs told Kishor it would not be a good idea to visit places where Trinamul is suddenly finding itself in a disadvantageous position.

A leader pointed to places like Labhpur in Birbhum, and Noapara, Bijpur and Bongaon North in North 24-Parganas, where Trinamul MLAs defected to the BJP after the Lok Sabha election results. Trying to conduct the outreach drive in such places would be challenging, but added to this is the problem of who to send.

“Whom do we send to Bijpur in place of Subhranshu Roy? Or in place of Sunil Singh in Noapara, Biswajit Das in Bongaon North and Manirul Islam in Labhpur?” asked a Trinamul leader, adding that the district committees had been told to suggest four alternatives from such constituencies. The four MLAs named by the leader have switched to the BJP.

For now, the leadership has decided to skip some places, like Labhpur in Birbhum.

Trinamul is facing similar problems in north Bengal too, in districts such as Darjeeling and Malda. In these districts, there are a number of Assembly constituencies that do not have a Trinamul MLA. In Darjeeling district, the ruling party does not have a single MLA. Local leaders have proposed that other elected representatives from panchayats and civic bodies undertake the trips.