West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata will reach Varanasi to hold a mega rally along with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on March 3. Coincidently, PM Modi is also scheduled to hold a rally and a roadshow in his constituency on the same day, reports Mudit Mathur
Soon after her re-election as president Trinamool Congress (TMC) after five years, the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee did not make any bones about her plans to expand and strengthen her party to play major role at national level to oust BJP from the country in 2024 parliamentary elections.“If we can oust Left from West Bengal after 34 years, we will be able to oust BJP too,” she said resolvedly.
Mamata will come to Varanasi on March 3 to hold Mega rally with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in the last phase of UP elections in PM Modi’s constituency. After the Mega rally they will do a roadshow – “Vijay Yatra”. The message is loud and clear ahead of 2024 when Modi has to seek fresh mandate from the people of India.
Coincidently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also planned to hold rally and road show as he is also reaching his constituency on 3rd March for staying there. It will be interesting to watch two rival politicians at the vanguard after West Bengal elections.
Mamata Banerjee is a known fighter and she proved her strong grip over the political scenario of West Bengal when Narendra Modi and his saffron army with all the central agencies at his hand could not defeat her in the last assembly elections.
Mamata consecutively became chief minister for the third term after fighting all sorts of odds and attacks from every nook and corner by none other than the most powerful prime minister Narendra Modi who mockingly addressed her “Didi-o-Didi”. She faced desertion of lieutenants to saffron camp and all sorts of smear campaigns including misuse of enforcement authorities against her close aides and ministers amid election campaigns.
But TMC stormed to power for the third consecutive term in May last year after bagging 213 out of the 294 seats in the state assembly. It was considered as beginning of countdown of Modi-Shah might who masterminded phenomenal rise of BJP to win many state assemblies.
Mamata Banerjee formed TMC in 1998 as a breakaway group of Congress who were frustrated with party high command for not taking on the Left parties. TMC was formed to oppose atrocious rule of Left parties who inflicted political violence against their opponents. She fought elections against them in 2001 and 2006 but managed to snatch power from them only in her third attempt in 2011. Politicians who know her well call her “a born fighter”.
“Earlier people would associate TMC with West Bengal. Now, we have expanded the party and are spreading to other parts of the country,” Mamata said disclosing her plans to play a bigger role at national level to uproot the BJP rule. She has built Goa unit of TMC. Her Tripura unit secured 20 percent vote share in the recent elections. She plans to win all 42 parliamentary seats from West Bengal in 2024 elections.
Now she is spearheading momentum to take along regional players to work together forging formidable alliance to oust BJP government in 2024. She is in a close contact with Maratha leader Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra and condemned the arrest of NCP minister Nawab Malik by enforcement directorate on the allegations of money laundering. Mamata had faced similar situation and did not drop her minister.
Mamata has also announced that TMC will contest coming parliamentary elections from Uttar Pradesh and she addressed virtual rallies extending her support to Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav with whom she shares excellent rapport. She came all the way from Kolkata to address an election rally and a joint press conference with Akhilesh Yadav during her two-day visit ahead of the state Assembly polls on 7-8 February.
TMC did not contest in UP for “larger interest”, did not want to weaken Akhilesh Yadav in any seat, Mamata Banerjee told media. Mamata is trying to unite non-BJP states’ chief ministers over issues of autonomy and overindulgence of Governors serving political interests of BJP.
