West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will address a joint rally with Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav in Varanasi on Thursday ahead of the last two phases of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Ms Banerjee’s visit will coincide with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three-day visit. This is his second visit to the state; He had spent two days in the first week of February.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is not contesting the assembly elections in the state, but Ms Banerjee had said in an earlier announcement that her party would prepare to contest some seats from here in the 2024 general election. The party started work on the creation of a unit in the state after senior Congress leader Laliteshpati Tripathi joined the TMC.
TMC national spokesperson Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said, “Mamata Banerjee is going to Varanasi on the invitation of Akhilesh Yadav to express solidarity and support for the Samajwadi Party in the UP assembly elections.” Hindu,
Ms. Banerjee will also visit the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
The SP had shown similar solidarity during the West Bengal Assembly elections last year, when the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan spent more than two weeks campaigning for the TMC in the state.
Ms Dastidar did not elaborate on whether this campaign pit-stop was part of the party’s strategy to carve a bigger role for itself in national politics. “MS. Banerjee, who was a seven-time MP, three-time chief minister and several-time cabinet minister, is a friend of all political parties. As far as our role in 2024 is concerned, we will take a decision on it.”
TMC has called the second meeting of its reconstituted working committee on March 10 in Delhi. This meeting will be held along with the results of the ongoing assembly elections in five states. It is set to discuss the steps that TMC intends to take to expand its base beyond West Bengal.
The party had contested the Goa Assembly elections for the first time in February. TMC is also working in Tripura and Meghalaya.
Ms Banerjee’s presence in the national capital on March 10 clearly indicates her desire to be a key player in Delhi.
The TMC is trying to oust the Congress as the major opposition party on the basis of its record of trouncing the BJP in a one-on-one battle, with its third consecutive victory in West Bengal on May 2 last year.