U.P. Assembly polls | Mamata to campaign for SP, plans virtual meet in Lucknow

She has become a face against BJP in country, says Nanda

United front: Mamata Banerjee with Akhilesh Yadav during a Trinamool Congress rally in Kolkata. File

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee will campaign for the Samajwadi Party in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election.

After meeting Ms. Banerjee at her residence in Kolkata,SP leader Kiranmoy Nanda said Ms. Banerjee would hold a joint virtual meeting and press conference with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on February 8.

“We wanted Mamata Banerjee to come and campaign for us in the Uttar Pradesh polls. After her success in West Bengal, she has become a face against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the entire country. Her support will encourage our workers and the people of Uttar Pradesh who are opposing the BJP,” Mr. Nanda said.

The Samajwadi Party leader said a joint virtual meeting

and press conference was being planned in Varanasi too, but the date had not been decided yet.

While there was speculation of the Trinamool Congress seeking to contest a few seats in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Nanda denied it. The SP leader said that because of the curbs by the Election Commission, it was difficult to have large gatherings and meetings in Uttar Pradesh and this was the reason party had decided to have a joint virtual meeting of Mamata Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav.

In the West Bengal Assembly polls held last year, the Samajwadi Party had extended its support to the Trinamool Congress. Senior Samajwadi party leader and Rajya Sabha member Jaya Bachchan had campaigned for the Trinamool in the West Bengal Assembly election.