Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, has said that the expiry date for the Narendra Modi government was close and that the rally on Saturday marks the beginning of its end. Urging opposition leaders to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, Banerjee sought to address concerns over who would lead the alliance, saying all the opposition parties have promised to work together. “Who will be the prime minister can be decided after the Lok Sabha elections,” she said.
Addressing the ‘United India’ rally, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said people’s rights were under the threat as he attacked the Centre for curtailing people’s rights. He said the 2019 Lok Sabha elections would see a fight between the alliance of the BJP, CBI and ED on one hand and the Mahagathbandhan on the other.
Earlier, former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah called Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) ‘chor’ machines and said opposition leaders must urge the poll panel to do away with them. Earlier, ex-BJP leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha urged opposition parties to make the country’s “failing economy” as the election issue in upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The rally was earlier opened by Patidar agitation leader Hardik Patel and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, who warned that the country is going through an “unprecedented crisis”.
More than 20 national leaders, including former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha, Shatrughan Sinha and Arun Shourie; three present chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal, Chandrababu Naidu and HD Kumaraswamy; and former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Akhilesh Yadav and Gegong Apang will attended the meeting.
With Bharatiya Janata Party’s recent defeats in the Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Banerjee has raised the pitch to be united against the saffron party in the 2019 general election.
Lakhs of TMC supporters and workers attended the rally. A thick security blanket has been thrown on the sprawling Brigade Parade Ground — the venue for the mega rally to prevent any untoward incident. As many as 10,000 police personnel have been deployed and around 400 police pickets have been set up to ensure foolproof security, police said.
