Trinamool to contest Himachal elections on ‘parivartan’ plank

The Trinamool Congress has decided to field as many candidates as possible in the election to the 68-seat Himachal Pradesh Assembly on November 4.

"We have decided to contest the Himachal Pradesh election. But we have not yet decided how many seats we will contest. But we will field candidates in as many seats as possible," Trinamool general secretary Mukul Roy told The Indian Express on Wednesday.

The process of submitting nomination papers commenced today and will continue till October 17. The last date of withdrawing nomination papers is October 20.

The ruling party of West Bengal was learnt to be in the process of finalising its candidate list. "We will soon hold a press conference to announce the candidates," Roy said.

The party has already launched its poll campaign in BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh. Party Rajya Sabha MP K D Singh is in charge of the Trinamool in the state. Sources said the party will position itself as an alternative to both the BJP and Congress and its stand is to "maintain equal distance from both the parties".

"We will showcase the honesty and dedication of our party chief Mamata Banerjee during poll campaign and bringing parivartan will be our slogan," a party leader said, adding that Mamata is expected to hold a rally in Himachal after the puja.

Sources said the party has a strong presence in some constituencies including Theog. Trinamool leader Pramod Sharma is likely to contest from this constituency.

"Our party is not power-hungry like the Congress and BJP. We have proved this by surrendering power at the Centre. The party's fight is to protect the interests of the poor and opposition to anti-people moves like allowing FDI in multi-brand retail, hike in fertilizer and diesel prices, imposing a cap on usage of subsidised LPG cylinders will be the party's principal campaign issues."

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