Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said that she wants Samajwadi Party (SP) led by Akhilesh Yadav to win in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Mamata and Akhilesh have reached an understanding wherein the former will campaign for the SP-led alliance in the country's largest populous state where polling will take place in seven-phase, starting February 10.
"I want Samajwadi Party to win in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. If people support him, then there is a chance of Akhilesh Ji winning in this election," she told reporters in Kolkata.
Banerjee is scheduled to arrive in Lucknow today. She will address a joint press conference with Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday and later a rally. Banerjee had early communicated to Akhilesh that if needed she will campaign for the Samajwadi Party in UP, according to news agency PTI. Notably, Akhilesh had in January 2019 attended the grand opposition meeting hosted by the TMC supremo.
Earlier on January 18, Samajwadi Party vice-president Kiranmay Nanda had said that the party wants Mamata Banerjee to campaign for it in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly election.
"The way Mamata Banerjee fought against BJP in the Bengal assembly poll was unprecedented. The entire nation saw the fight she had put up against the BJP's juggernaut. The Samajwadi Party and our party president Akhilesh Yadav wants her to campaign for us in the UP Assembly poll," he had said.
The TMC leader had also campaigned in the favour of the Samajwadi Party in the 2017 Assembly polls.
The election in all 403 Assembly seats of the politically most important state will be held in seven phases between February 10 and March 7. Counting will take place on March 10.
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