UP Election 2022: Mamata Banerjee Leaves For Lucknow To Campaign For Samajwadi Party, Ups The Ante Against BJP

“Akhilesh Yadav has invited me to go there and to campaign for SP. We (TMC) want BJP to be defeated and Akhilesh to win Uttar Pradesh,” said Banerjee, who left for Lucknow this evening, PTI reported.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee| Photo: Getty

Kolkata: Sounding a clarion call for defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday left for Lucknow to campaign for the Samajwadi Party.

“Akhilesh Yadav has invited me to go there and to campaign for SP. We (TMC) want BJP to be defeated and Akhilesh to win Uttar Pradesh,” said Banerjee, who left for Lucknow this evening, PTI reported.

“All of us should support him in the fight against the BJP. That is the reason we have decided not to contest in Uttar Pradesh this time,” she added.

Talking to the media before leaving for Lucknow, the TMC also said that she would visit Varanasi later this month but the date is yet to be fixed.

PTI reported sources in the TMC as saying that Banerjee will be holding a joint press conference with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and a virtual rally in Lucknow on Tuesday.

Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, while reacting to Banerjee’s move wondered whether the Samajwadi Party supports the post-poll violence that was unleashed in the state after TMC’s victory in last year’s assembly election.

Asserting the BJP will “return to power in Uttar Pradesh”, Adhikari said: “We would like to know whether Samajwadi Party supports the post-poll violence that was unleashed by TMC in Bengal?”

“If no, then they (SP) should condemn it,” he added.

Voting for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly will be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7.

The counting of votes will be held on March 10.