Mamata Banerjee is headed for a bitter clash with the BJP in Bengal assembly elections in 2021.
On Monday, election strategist Prashant Kishor and his group IPAC started out with the flagship campaign "Didi Ke Bolo" (Tell Didi) for Mamata Banerjee. And they seem determined to carry on just as they began.
On Friday, two existing Trinamool social media properties were relaunched with a makeover bearing the PK stamp all over - a Facebook page and a Twitter handle, both called "Amar Gorbo Mamata". In English, that is, Mamata, My Pride.
Glossy, smart and full of photographs and videos of Mamata Banerjee in protest mode, as painter, as poet, the Facebook page created on July 15 already has 89,680 followers and 89,279 likes.
The Twitter handle created June 2019 had 154 followers at around 8 this evening.
The big picture on both pages is DBK - Didi Ke Bolo - with the phone number all over for people to call the chief minister with a complaint or any other issue.
"On Twitter and on other social media platforms, people can share their experiences on why they are proud of Mamata Banerjee. They would share those experiences on 'Amar Gorbo Mamata'. We are all proud of our Didi, now we would get to know other's experiences and share them on social media," a senior Trinamool Congress leader told news agency PTI.
Many people have showered praise on Mamata Banerjee on the two platforms. Others have been fiercely critical, including on the issue of chit funds. "The comments are a rich source of data on what people want or don't want from the chief minister, her government, her party and why," according to sources, which will be mined and analysed.
The DBK project was the first to be floated by political strategist Prashant Kishor, who has been signed up to help the Trinamool Congress to arrest the surge of the BJP in West Bengal ahead of state elections due in 2021.
Growing resentment about incidents of extortion and corruption among the people has created fertile ground for the BJP to spear into a state once thought impenetrable for the party.
The stunning outcome of Lok Sabha election results in May, BJP 18 of the state's 42 seats and TMC 22 -- had demonstrated the extent of the slide of Trinamool that dominated polls after ending three decades of communist rule in 2011.
"Over the next 100 days, more than 1,000 party leaders and workers will reach out to 10,000 villages in the state, spend days there with local people and try and address their grievances," Mamata Banerjee said at the launch of "Didi Ke Bolo".
(With inputs from PTI)