Ahead of Bengal panchayat polls, Mamata Banerjee to launch TMC's new campaign today

Banerjee has called a press conference at Nazrul Mancha in south Kolkata's Southern Avenue at 12 noon.

Speculations are strong that Banerjee will make a few important announcements including a few mass outreach campaigns with months to go for the panchayat polls.

The announcements are likely to be in tune with TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee's call for reforms in the party aiming to form a "new Trinamool".

Ahead of the 2021 assembly elections, Banerjee had introduced several mass outreach campaigns like Duare Sarkar, Paray Samadhan, schemes like Lakshmir Bhandar, expansion of Swastha Sathi card to thwart the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from assuming power in the state.

Despite winning the 2021 polls by a mammoth margin of seats and votes, the TMC was embarrassed last year after a huge sum of money was recovered from its top minister Partha Chatterjee's close Arpita Mukherjee's residences in connection with the teachers' recruitment scam.

Both Partha and Arpita were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate.

TMC strong leader from Birbhum, Anubrata Mondal, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the cattle smuggling case.

The latest instance of corruption allegation stems from the selection of beneficiaries in the Centre's Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, a central government scheme which aims to build houses for the poor.

Several reports claim the panchayat functionaries faced backlash from the people who were allegedly denied benefits under the Centre's flagship scheme.

The state's panchayat has been in control of Banerjee's TMC since 2013 after it overpowered the Left dominance in the lowest rung of power structure. 

The ruling party is also slammed for violence in the panchayat polls, which saw 34 percent of the total seats go uncontested in 2018.