West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the mega Opposition rally being hosted by the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata on Saturday would sound the "death knell" for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls and regional parties would be the deciding factor.
She also claimed that the BJP's seat count in the general election will not cross more than 125. The number of seats that the state parties will win will be much more than the BJP's, she further claimed.
File image of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. PTI
Who's in?
Among the list of politicians who will attend West Bengal chief minister's rally on Friday are Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who have already arrived in West Bengal for the Friday rally, reported Times Now.
Banerjee said that Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Abhishek Manu Singhvi will attend the rally.
Chief Ministers Arvind Kejriwal, H Kumaraswamy, N Chandrababu Naidu, former prime minister HD Devegowda, former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, DMK's MK Stalin, BSP's Satish Mishra, besides dissident BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha, are among those likely to attend the mega rally.
Former BJP leaders Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie will also attend the rally.
Who's out?
The most conspicuous absence from Banerjee's rally will be that of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
According to PTI, West Bengal Congress had wanted the Gandhis to stay away from the rally and send in another leader as Banerjee had also skipped the swearing-in ceremony of Kamal Nath as Madhya Pradesh chief minister last month and had instead sent party MP Dinesh Trivedi.
Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik will also not be attending the event.
Another important politician who has decided to skip the rally is BSP chief Mayawati. "BSP chief Mayawati is known for her political ambitions. And she is known to give events a miss if she is not the centre of attraction. Mayawati has not been seen at a rally where she does not have an upper hand," said this article in India Today.
Leaders from CPM and CPI will also not attend the rally. Sources told NDTV that they were not invited for it too.
Even though Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao had met Banerjee last month, he will also not be attending the rally.
With inputs from PTI
Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.
Updated Date: Jan 19, 2019 07:52:07 IST
