UP poll: Mamata returns favour to Akhilesh
KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress will not join the fray in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming Assembly elections, Samajwadi Party national vice-president Kiranmay Nanda announced on Tuesday. Incidentally, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had announced that his party would support the TMC in the last year’s Bengal polls and did not field any candidate. Though the TMC is not participating in the electoral battle in the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Mamata has been aggressively campaigning in the other poll-bound states, especially Goa.
‘‘The TMC is not keen in participating Uttar Pradesh elections. All seats will be given to Akhilesh Yadav. It was Mamata Banerjee’s party which shattered BJP’s dream of wresting power in Bengal in the 2021 Assembly elections,’’ Nanda said. ‘‘It is a lesson for the entire opposition and her fight was unprecedented. The entire nation saw the fight she had put up against BJP’s juggernaut. Mamata will address a public rally virtually in Lucknow announcing the TMC’s support to our party.’’
The TMC supremo would visit Lucknow on February 8 and hold a meeting with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav before addressing a rally virtually to announce her support, he said after holding a meeting with Mamata at her Kalighat residence in Kolkata.
Nanda also said the TMC chief would visit Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency in February but the date is yet to be fixed. Akhilesh shares cordial ties with Mamata. Last year, he had requested his Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachhan to campaign in favour of the TMC in the polls. Before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Akhilesh was among the regional satraps who attended the grand opposition rally of Mamata in Kolkata.
SP’s Naam Likhwao campaign from today
Having promised 300 units of free electricity to every household, the SP will commence a campaign from Wednesday to register the names of the consumers to extend the benefit. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav exhorted all to get themselves under the ‘Naam Likhwao’ campaign.