All eyes on Mamata's mega Opposition rally in Kolkata
New Delhi: 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 over 20 opposition parties are expected to attend the rally at the iconic Brigade Parade Ground here on Saturday to vow to put up a united fight against the "misrule" of the saffron party.
Banerjee, the moving force behind the mega opposition rally, on Thursday said the regional parties would be the deciding factor in the Lok Sabha polls.
Chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal, H D Kumaraswamy, N Chandrababu Naidu, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (DMK) M K Stalin, besides dissident BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha are among those billed to attend the mega rally.
The leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and his party colleague 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, former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, Patidar leader Hardik Patel, Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and Babulal Marandi of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha will also be present on the stage alongside the TMC supremo.
Former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Gegong Apang, who quit the BJP on Tuesday, is also set to attend the meet.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi extended his support to Mamata Banerjee on Friday for her "show of unity" in Kolkata on January 19 and hoped that it would send a powerful message of a united India.
In a letter to Banerjee, the Congress chief commended the "great people" of Bengal, who had "historically been at the forefront of defending our ideals".
