Mamata Banerjee to begin poll campaign on Women's Day

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will kick off the TMC's campaign for the Lok Sabha polls on International Women's Day on March 8, a party leader said Wednesday.

Incidentally, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief had also commenced her party's campaign for the 2014 parliamentary and 2016 assembly elections on the same date.

Banerjee is scheduled to participate in a rally convened by the party's women's wing from Shraddhananda Park to Esplanade area here on Friday to celebrate the International Women's Day.

"Although election dates are yet to be announced, our campaign for the Lok Sabha elections will begin on March 8. During the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and 2016 Assembly polls also, Mamata di had started her poll campaign on Women's Day," a senior leader of the TMC's women's wing said. 

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The purpose of this rally is to create a "new India, United India, and strong India", the posters of the rally read.

"She (Banerjee) will give her message for the Lok Sabha polls. And after the dates are announced, a full-fledged campaign will begin," the TMC leader said.

Several rallies and marches will be held in various parts of the state to celebrate the day and kick off the poll campaign in the state, TMC sources said.

Banerjee, who has been the prime mover of an anti- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) front, had organised a mega Opposition rally here on January 19, during which she had given a call to oust the Modi government.

The TMC, which is vying to play a major role in the formation of the next government at the Centre, has vowed to win all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. 

The party had won 34 seats in the 2014 general election.  

However, the BJP state leadership mocked TMC's decision to kick start its poll campaign on International Women's day.

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"It's an irony that TMC is kick-starting its poll campaign from March 8 when Bengal under TMC regime in last seven years has seen a steep rise in atrocities against women," BJP state president Dilip Ghosh.

Meanwhile, the saffron party's women wing too has scheduled several rallies in the state to mark the ocassion.