Mamata to reach Delhi this evening, will attend AAP rally
Kolkata: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee will leave for New Delhi on Tuesday to attend the meeting organised by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on February 13 and 14 respectively.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the "Remove Dictatorship Save Democracy" rally at Jantar Mantar will be attended by several Opposition party leaders as well.
It has been learnt that Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh are likely to attend the Opposition leaders' meeting on February 13.
Derek O'Brien, Trinamool Congress spokesperson, said Banerjee will attend the protest meeting at Jantar Mantar too.
Kejriwal had expressed his support to Banerjee again when she was on a "Save the Constitution" sit-in from February 3 to 5 here after the CBI's failed bid to question Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in connection with chit fund cases.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu organised a fast in the national Capital on Monday to protest against the undemocratic attitude of the Centre. He said the attack on him by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a recent meeting is "unwarranted." Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too attended the protest meeting to express his solidarity.
Banerjee's recent "United India" rally on January 19 at the Brigade Parade Ground to oust the Modi government had consolidated the unity of the Federal Front. Leaders of 22 parties had attended the meeting and addressed the historic gathering. It was decided there only that a similar rally would be held in Delhi.
Prominent names who attended the Brigade Rally included Chandrababu Naidu, Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar, former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and his son H D Kumaraswamy, Chief Minister of Karnataka and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge who attended the meeting with party colleague Abhishek Manu Singhvi read out a message of Sonia Gandhi. Former Finance minister Yashwant Sinha and BJP MP Shatrughan Singh also attended the rally along with M K Stalin.
The consolidation had gathered further momentum when Naidu and Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD attended the "Save Indian Constitution" protest. Banerjee had organised a dharna at Esplanade after a CBI team had visited the house of Commissioner of Police Rajeev Kumar on February 3 to interrogate or arrest him in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam. The dharna was withdrawn in presence of Naidu and Yadav after the Supreme Court ordered that no coercive action could be taken against Kumar and CBI officials could meet him at a neutral place.
Supporting Banerjee's dharna, Kejriwal said on Monday that had she not been there, the CBI would have arrested Rajeev Kumar to scare the officials of the Indian Administrative and Police Service.
