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Mamata's January 19 rally to be historic, biggest in four decades

Kolkata: With four days to go for the mammoth rally at the Brigade Parade Ground, a host of senior leaders have confirmed their participation and the venue is tipped to witness history in the making with the biggest public meeting in the last four decades being held there.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asserted that her party's proposed Opposition rally on January 19 will see participation of non-BJP parties from "Kashmir to Kanyakumari".

The Congress will be represented by its senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge, she added.

On the presence of Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, she said the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister was yet to confirm and "perhaps someone else will be nominated to represent her party".

"You will witness how big the representation will be this year from all regions. Heavyweight national leaders, including a former Prime Minister and ex-Chief Ministers will attend this meeting," she told reporters at Nabanna.

"Political leaders from Kashmir to Kanyakumari — H D Devegowda (former PM), H D Kumaraswamy (Karnataka CM), Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi CM), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party chief), Sharad Pawar (Nationalist Congress Party supremo), Farooq Abdullah (National Conference chief) — and many others will be attending the mega rally," Banerjee claimed.

Stalin, Chandrababu Naidu, Ajit Singh and his son, Tejashwi Yadav, Babulal Marandi, Jignesh Mevani, Hardik Patel, Sanjay Raut along with Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha are also said to attend the rally.

On the participation of the Left parties, she said: "I had invited the Left, including the Kerala Chief Minister. I have performed my responsibility. If any party does not want to come due to political compulsions, I respect the decision."

Referring to the Brigade Parade rally as a " historic event" Banerjee said: "Jyoti Basu had organised a rally which was attended by all the all-India leaders in 1977. After 41 years, a rally of such a big magnitude is being held in Kolkata."

Banerjee held a high-level meeting at Nabanna to discuss the security arrangements for Saturday. Rajeev Kumar, Police Commissioner, Director General of Police Virendra and state Security Advisor Surajit Kar Purkayastha attended the meeting. Abhishek Banerjee, Partha Chatterjee and Subrata Bakshi were also present.

There will be four stages at the rally. The centrestage has been constructed with iron roads to avert any untoward incident. Senior police officers visited the venue and oversaw the arrangements. Lakhs of Trinamool Congress supporters will come from the districts and will be put up at different places in the city.

The Chief Minister had announced the Brigade Parade Ground rally from the meeting of July 21, 2018, to observe the Martyr's Day. The main purpose of the rally is to initiate a clarion call to oust the BJP from the Centre.

Banerjee was the first leader to talk about a Federal front. She personally met the Opposition leaders and travelled far and wide to garner support. She also kept constant touch with other leaders and congratulated the SP and BSP after an alliance was inked recently.

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