Mamata likely to join Akhilesh’s rath yatra in Lucknow
LUCKNOW: West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) president Mamata Banerjee is likely to join the Samajwadi Vijay Rath Yatra in Lucknow in support of Akhilesh Yadav as the next chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, party officials aware of the matter said on Thursday.
According to the people aware of the developments, three women leaders — Mamata, Samajwadi
Party MP Jaya Bachchan, and former Kannauj MP and Akhilesh’s wife Dimple Yadav — will join Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh’s Vijay Yatra, the officials said, adding, that the SP will announce the date of the event at “an appropriate time”.
This will possibly be the second time when Mamata campaigns for Akhilesh, the first being on November 16, towards the end of Akhilesh’s first term as the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
Mamata had addressed a public meeting in support of the SP chief and against the Union government’s demonetisation decision. The SP had also supported the TMC in both the 2016 and the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls.
“In the 2021 polls, our party MP Jaya Bachchan and the party’s national vice-president Kiranmoy Nanda had substantially campaigned for the TMC and our party had not contested the polls in the eastern state,” said a senior SP leader on condition of anonymity.
Yadav slams Yogi govt
Akhilesh on Thursday attacked the BJP government, saying it left people to die during the pandemic. “The government left people like orphans to die. Labourer brothers put their lives at risk and had to walk hundreds of kilometres to reach their home on foot,” he said.
The BJP rejected his allegation. “Akhilesh ji had quarantined himself when our party leaders were risking their lives to serve the poor,” said UP BJP spokesperson Harish Srivastava.