R G Kar case aftermath: TMC to initiate image-makeover programmes in Bengal ahead of 2026 assembly polls

Mamata Banerjee-led TMC is waiting for the results of the bye-elections in the 6 assembly constituencies to assess the extent of damage it suffered due to massive protests over the August 9 rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital run by the state government in Kolkata.

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to set in motion a series of overhauls in the Trinamool Congress (TMC) organisation across the state while her heir apparent Abhishek Banerjee is set to launch a ‘yatra’ to rejuvenate the party - which was at the receiving end of widespread outrage over the rape and murder of a young doctor in Kolkata on August 9.

The party is waiting for the results of the bye-elections in the 6 assembly constituencies to assess the extent of damage it suffered due to massive protests over the August 9 rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital run by the state government in Kolkata. But it is also preparing to set in motion a series of image-makeover programmes in the run-up to the 2026 assembly elections.

Mamata is likely to start a rejig of the party organisation later this month and the process will conclude by the end of January 2025. She is likely to travel to several district headquarters and meet local party leaders, apart from holding meetings with state government officials to review the rollout of the welfare schemes, which played a key role in ensuring the TMC’s victory in the Lok Sabha elections, according to party sources.

Abhishek, the general secretary of TMC, is also likely to take out a ‘yatra’ – a sequel of his 2023 “Trinamool er Nabajowar Yatra”, which significantly helped the party blunt the anti-incumbency wave triggered by the allegations of corruption and secure a landslide victory in the parliamentary polls.

The 6 assembly constituencies – Naihati, Haroa, Medinipur, Taldangra, Sitai, and Madarihat – will go to polls on November 13. The TMC had won 5 of the 6 assembly constituencies in 2021, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won one. The bye-election was necessitated due to the resignation of the legislators, who had contested and won the parliamentary elections held earlier this year.

“The results of the bye-elections will show that the people of West Bengal are with TMC only. We will also have a landslide victory in the state assembly elections in 2026,” Kunal Ghosh, senior leader and party spokesperson, said.

The TMC had a spectacular victory in the Lok Sabha elections winning in 29 of the 42 parliamentary constituencies in West Bengal, 7 more than its 2019 tally. The BJP’s Lok Sabha seats from the state went down from 18 in 2019 to 12 this year. The Congress, which had won two seats from the state in 2019, could win only one seat this year. The CPI(M) drew a blank just as it had in the 2021 assembly elections.

The jubilation within the TMC, however, did not last more than a few weeks as protests over the rape and murder of the young doctor swept the state and brought to the fore allegations about rampant corruption and irregularities as well as a prevailing culture of intimidation in the healthcare institutions of the state.