West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is looking to have a mega rally in Kolkata on January 19 in which leaders of most regional parties of the country will come together for a show of strength against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
On Tuesday evening, the Bengal CM mentioned the names of the leaders who have confirmed they will attend the rally. Banerjee said that “Jyoti Basu had organised a similar meeting in 1977 in which some national leaders had participated. But that was not as big as the one to be held on January 19”.
Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Deve Gowda, his son and Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, Delhi chief minister and leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal, Andhra Pradesh chief minister and leader of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) N Chandrababu Naidu, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader, Laloo Prasad Yadav’s son Tejaswi Yadav, Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh, National Conference leaders Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, DMK leader MK Stalin among others. Arun Shourie, who was a minister in the BJP-led government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will also be present.
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The Bengal CM also added that Congress will be represented by Mallikarjun Kharge.
Actor turned politician Shatrughan Sinha will also be present at the rally, Mamata Banerjee confirmed. Sinha is a member of the BJP. However, Sinha has been a critic of the BJP government.
Asked if she had invited the Left parties, Banerjee said she had invited Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. However, he has not yet confirmed about attending the rally. Banerjee said that if someone did not attend the rally due to political reasons, s/he was within their rights to do so, and she respected the decision.
