Kolkata/IBNS: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will kickstart her campaign for the upcoming panchayat elections from the state's northern part, a sticky ground for the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Mamata landed in Cooch Behar in a chopper from Bagdogra on Sunday.

She will be addressing a rally in Cooch Behar on Monday and fly to Jalpaiguri on Tuesday for the second rally. The TMC supremo is expected to return to Kolkata on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who had earlier led a massive mass outreach campaign, will take care of his party's campaign in south Bengal, a stronghold of the ruling party.

Abhishek will start his campaign from Nadia's Hanskhali and later attend a roadshow in Murshidabad's Domkal.

Mamata's panchayat campaign earns BJP's dig

Mamata, the supreme leader of TMC, took charge of the party's campaign in the backdrop of massive corruption allegations, pre-poll violence and infighting.

Not wasting an opportunity to take a dig at Mamata, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national vice president Dilip Ghosh said, "Mamata Banerjee is trusting no one so she is herself going to campaign. She will try to persuade people and plead for votes.

"If people vote for her again, they will have to suffer the loot and corruption."

TMC counters

Countering the opposition parties, TMC state vice president Jayprakash Majumdar told a local channel, "It's very natural that Mamata Banerjee being the leader of her party will campaign. How can that bother BJP? Did Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaign for BJP in the 2021 elections because he didn't support the local leaders?"