Today, a person does not need to make rounds of party offices to avail conditional cash transfer [and other] schemes. This massively improved the service delivery, indicated impartial international agencies like the United Nations, but weakened the party. Mamtaz Begum, a dedicated TMC activist, explained how and why efficient delivery of freebies weakened the party. Other TMC officials complained that the Chief Minister “meets government officials often but not the party workers.”Three problemsWith the weakening of the organisation, three problems surfaced. Question is if Ms. Banerjee knew about men like Zahangir or Jadavpur’s councillor without a structured organisational information gathering network.

Source: The Hindu June 12, 2019 09:39 UTC