Kolkata: Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee instructed her MLAs to stay in their constituencies for all the seven days throughout the week and secure permission from the party before undertaking any foreign trip. She met the MLAs at Trinamool Bhavan to prepare a roadmap to be followed for 2021 Assembly elections on Thursday afternoon. "You will have to stay in your constituencies and work for all the seven days. In case any MLA wants to go on a foreign trip, he or she will have to take permission from the party," she said to her colleagues. She also spoke to political strategist Prashant Kishor and Trinamool Youth Congress president Abhishek Banerjee separately. The team should comprise two booth-level workers, one social media activist and a district-level functionary. "The party would prepare a data-base of such team members with their photos and telephone numbers. The party higher-ups would directly get in touch with the team to know developments in the constituency, including grievances and misgivings of the voters," she said. The MLAs have been asked to give names of the workers who will be deputed for the purpose within July 18. Banerjee said the district leaders should not come to Kolkata all the time, but instead stay rooted in their districts in order to establish good mass contacts. "Spend more time in local tea stalls to understand the peoples pulse. Try to devise novel ways of mass contact," she added. Banerjee further maintained that the MLAs should speak to the locals and seek apology for their mistakes. "Go to the people and talk to them. Tender apology for the mistakes. Dont ignore the people," she said, adding "Listen to what they have to say." In her 25-minute address, Banerjee urged the MLAs not to run away from their constituencies if some untoward incident has taken place. "You will have to face trouble but try to avoid confrontation with the Opposition leaders," she said. It may be mentioned that after the results of the general election, many MLAs did not face the problems that came up in their constituencies. This had happened mainly in North Bengal where the Trinamool Congress could not bag a single Lok Sabha seat. In the past one-and-a-half months, several incidents took place in which BJP workers had gheraoed TMC MLAs and even smashed their vehicles. Instead of facing the crisis, they had fled the area. Banerjee also urged the MLAs not to carry out loose talk with media persons.

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