Dumped by Bua and Bhatija, Rahul Gandhi backs Didi Mamata Banerjee against PM Modi
The All India Trinamool Congress hopes to use Saturday's rally in Kolkata to prop Mamata Banerjee as a leader who can "take along other parties" and challenge the BJP after the Lok Sabha election. Now Rahul Gandhi has written to the West Bengal Chief Minister to extend support for the mega-event.
In Short
- Rally will sound death knell for BJP: Mamata Banerjee
- Leaders from over 20 opposition parties expected to attend
- It will be a rally against the BJP's misrule: Mamata Banerjee
Rahul Gandhi has told Mamata Banerjee he will support Saturday's rally of opposition parties in Kolkata -- one that the West Bengal Chief Minister has said will sound the "death knell" for the BJP.
The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) hopes to use the rally -- scheduled to be held at Kolkata's Brigade Parade Ground -- to prop Mamata Banerjee as a leader who can "take along other parties" and challenge the BJP after the Lok Sabha election due by May.
Leaders from over 20 opposition parties are expected to attend.
"The entire opposition is united in our belief that true nationalism and development can only be defended on the tested pillars of democracy, social justice and secularism, ideas the BJP and Mr Modi are intent on destroying," Rahul Gandhi, the president of the Congress party, told Mamata Banerjee in a letter.
The Congress and the TMC are rivals in West Bengal.
"It will be a 'United India Rally' against the misrule of the BJP. It will sound the death knell for the BJP," Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday. "The saffron party's seat count in the general election will not cross 125. The number of seats the state parties will win will be much higher than that of the BJP's."
"The federal parties, that is the regional parties, will be the deciding factor after the elections," she said.
The top leaders expected at the rally include Chief Ministers HD Kumaraswamy (Karnataka), Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh) and Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, and former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah (Jammu and Kashmir) and Akhilesh Yadav (Uttar Pradesh).
Here is the full text of Rahul Gandhi's letter to Mamata Banerjee.
IN A NUTSHELL: With just months to go before the Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has extended support to a rally of opposition parties in Kolkata. The brain behind the mega-rally is Mamata Banerjee, the leader of the TMC and the chief minister of West Bengal.