Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's 'Didi Ke Bolo' campaign is helping the Trinamool Congress (TMC) reach out to people in distress. At the same time, the people of the city are forcing party leaders to answer uncomfortable questions about cut money, the arrogance of local leaders and syndicates.

As advised by political strategist Prashant Kishor and his organisation, appointed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after its poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls, Banerjee on July 29 had launched a dedicated helpline number and a website as part of 'Didi Ke Bolo', to enable people to have a direct interface with party functionaries.

As part of the programme, over 1,000 party leaders are visiting 10,000 villages to redress the grievances of people.

Senior TMC leaders cited examples of Rima Datta of North 24 Parganas district, Samar Mandal of South 24 Parganas district, Ebadur Rahman of Hooghly district, Jagannath Chakraborty of Howrah district and Md Firoz of Jalpaiguri district who had either received assistance for a medical emergency or gained admission to colleges.

"After getting calls from people in distress, we contacted local TMC leaders and departments concerned, who were asked to resolve the issues. All the complaints were addressed within 24 hours," a senior TMC leader said.

The senior leader also said that even people from West Bengal who were stuck in floods in Karnataka and Kerala were rescued after their location and coordinates were passed on to the disaster management department.

However, the initiative has also raised some allegations against a section of party leaders.

"Some callers have complained against certain leaders, especially those who have joined the TMC from other parties after we came to power in 2011," a TMC leader said on condition of anonymity.

During the mass outreach programme too, the party leaders are being forced to bite the tongue while answering queries on cut money and alleged arrogance of local TMC leaders, a party functionary said.

"We are facing a tough time answering these questions. But we can assure the people that steps will be taken to address these issues," a TMC leader said.

In the recent Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had bettered its performance from two seats in 2014 to 18 this year, in the 42 seats of the state.