Mamata calls meeting to find out reason for LS setbacks

Kolkata, May 25 (IANS) With her party seemingly rattled after the Lok Sabha setback, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has convened an emergent meeting on Saturday afternoon at her Kalighat residence in South Kolkata to review the results and come up with a road map for a turnaround ahead of the Assembly polls.

All winning and losing Lok Sabha candidates, as also the district presidents and front ranking leaders have been asked to be present for the meeting, party sources said.

"She will review the results by hearing all the candidates and district presidents who would be asked to give their individual opinion on what went wrong for the party," they said.

The thinking in the party is that the shift of 22-23 per cent of the Left Front vote to the Bharatiya Janata Party changed the political equation in the state, making it possible for the BJP to win 18 of the 42 seats and raise their vote share from 17 per cent it got in 2014 to around 40 per cent this time.

Besides, communal polarisation, the use of force to prevent people from casting their vote or file nomination for last year's Panchayat election, as also some Trinamool leaders losing their touch with the masses and the change in their lifestyle have not gone down well with the masses.

After hearing out the candidates and the district chiefs, Banerjee would announce a road map on overcoming the electoral setbacks and making a turnaround.

A section of Trinamool leaders feel that the central government and the ruling BJP would increase the pressure on the Trinamool by using the government agencies and attempt to cause defections from its ranks to topple the government or make it weak as part of the BJP's plans to hold the Assembly polls earlier than 2021, when the elections are slated to be held.

Meanwhile, senior Trinamool leader and city Mayor Firhad Hakim acknowledged that a 'Modi wave' across the nation was partly responsible for the Trinamool's below par showing.

"To some extent a communal campaign, shortcomings in our organisation, and to some extent a 'Modi wave' across the nation has affected our results.

"Surely, we will analyse and find out the reason. We will take proper corrective measures and you will see a change in the results in 2021," Hakim said.