Lucknow: West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee will campaign for Samajwadi Party on Tuesday ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly election. She arrived in Lucknow on Monday on a two-day visit.
Banerjee is scheduled to address a joint press conference with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav at party office in Lucknow on Tuesday. The TMC chief will also address a virtual rally.
Before leaving for Lucknow, Banerjee in Kolkata gave a call to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the coming elections. She said Yadav has invited her to campaign for SP.
The Bengal chief minister also said that she will visit Varanasi later in February but the date is yet to be fixed.
Banerjee informed that the TMC will not contest the Uttar Pradesh elections but will field candidates in the state in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
Akhilesh Yadav welcomed her at the Amausi airport in Lucknow on Monday and shared this information on Twitter.
“We defeated together in Bengal, now we will defeat in UP. This is a promise to Didi, we will emerge winners. Warm welcome and greetings to Didi in UP,” the SP chief tweeted sharing a picture with Banerjee.
Moth the leaders share a bonhomie on political as well as personal levels. This is not the first time Banerjee has come to Lucknow for the SP. Ahead of the 2017 UP assembly polls, she had come to support the SP when she held an anti-demonetisation public meeting at the 1090 crossing in the city. Akhilesh Yadav was the UP chief minister then.
He had supported Mamata and the TMC both in 2016 and 2011 West Bengal assembly elections. In 2021, Yadav had sent SP national vice-president Kiranmay Nanda and SP Rajya Sabha member Jaya Bachchan to campaign for the TMC ahead of the West Bengal assembly polls.
Polling for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly will be held in seven phases starting February 10. The votes will be counted on March 10.
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