TMC eyes Delhi, says its mega rally will sound BJP's death toll

Kolkata, Jan 18 With an eye on Delhi, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is all geared up for Saturday's "united opposition rally", which party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said would sound the "death knell" for the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

Leaders of more than 20 opposition parties are required to go to the rally at the iconic Brigade Parade Ground here on Saturday to pledge to set up a unified battle against the "misrule" of the saffron party.

The TMC would like to use the rally as a stage to prop Banerjee as a leader who can "take along other parties" and challenge the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the general election.

Banerjee, the mind behind the super restriction rally, on Thursday said the regional parties would be the main factor in the Lok Sabha polls.

"It will be a 'United India Rally' against the misrule of the BJP. It will sound the demise chime for the BJP ... The saffron gathering's seat check in the general decision won't cross 125. The quantity of seats the state gatherings will win will be a lot higher than that of the BJP's.

"The federal parties, that is the provincial gatherings, will be the main factor after the races," she guaranteed.

Chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal, H D Kumaraswamy, N Chandrababu Naidu, previous PM H D Deve Gowda, previous boss pastors Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (DMK) M K Stalin, other than dissenter BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha are among those charged to go to the super rally.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress Leader Mallikarjun Kharge and his gathering partner Abhishek Manu Singhvi will also take part in the rally.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, Rashtriya Lok Dal's (RLD) Ajit Singh, previous Union pastors Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, Patidar pioneer Hardik Patel, Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and Babulal Marandi of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha will also be available on the stage alongside the TMC supremo.

Previous Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Gegong Apang, who quit the BJP on Tuesday, is also set to go to the meet.

The rally will, be that as it may, miss the presence of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and BSP supremo Mayawati. They have deputed senior party leaders to attend the programme.

The three politicians had gone to the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy a year ago.

According to state Congress sources, the party unit was not very keen on Kharge and Singhvi attending the rally as it would send a wrong message to its workers who are fighting against the TMC in West Bengal.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), alongside the other Left parties, has chosen to give the rally a miss.

Asked to comment on Mayawati skipping the rally, Banerjee said BSP's "senior pioneer Satish Chandra Mishra will visit, which is a major thing for us".

About the TMC's ambitions in the national arena, a senior party leader stated, "It's not possible for anyone to deny that Mamata Banerjee is a standout amongst the most well known Opposition leaders in the nation and can take others alongside her to battle the BJP. She has encounter both as a (previous) central minister and as a chief minister. The rest is for the people to decide."

Several top TMC leaders, during the campaign meetings for the rally, had guaranteed that the "people are waiting for Mamata Banerjee" and asked the party workers to guarantee that the next government at the Centre was formed under her leadership.

The BJP leadership predictably mocked the rally, saying the Opposition should first decide on its prime ministerial candidate and then think of ousting Narendra Modi and the ruling party.