Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday lauded West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her efforts to counter what he described as the "onslaught of the BJP" in the country.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister made the remarks after a meeting with Mamata at the state secretariat 'Nabanna' in Kolkata.
Akhilesh's wife and Lok Sabha MP Dimple Yadav also participated in the meeting with the TMC supremo, which lasted around 40 minutes, reported PTI news agency.
Addressing reporters after the meeting, Akhilesh vowed to extend "full support to Mamata Banerjee in her fight to save democracy."
"Only 'Didi' (Mamata Banerjee) can counter the onslaught of the BJP in this country," the SP chief said.
Slamming the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Akhilesh said, "Attempts are being made to implement the NRC in the garb of the SIR, and harass people."
The meeting comes as Mamata Banerjee and TMC look to intensify protests against the Election Commission of India, demanding a halt to SIR, which the CM has dubbed a "huge scam."
Mamata has written several letters to the ECI urging the poll agency to immediately halt the exercise, citing several issues with the conduct of the SIR, including workload and stress allegedly leading to suicides of booth level agents (BLA) and others.
According to sources, the CM is expected to lead large-scale protests, including a sit-in front of the ECI office in Delhi, later this week.
(With inputs from PTI)