West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is set to campaign for Samajwadi Party in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, said on Monday that she wants the SP to win the elections.
"If people support him, then there is a chance of Akhilesh Ji winning in this election," Banerjee, who will campaign for the SP on Tuesday ahead of the first phase of polls on February 10, was quoted as saying.
She also said it would have been better if the Congress and the SP formed an alliance in the state to take on the BJP. "The votes would not have been split. We requested them but they (Congress) did not listen," she said.
Banerjee is scheduled to arrive in Lucknow on Monday and will address a virtual poll rally with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday. The duo will address a joint press conference before the virtual rally.
The WB CM had campaigned for the SP in the 2017 assembly elections.
SP vice-president Kiranmay Nanda, who recently held an hour-long meeting with Banerjee at her residence, had said the Trinamool Congress will not contest the elections in UP. "The Trinamool Congress will not contest in Uttar Pradesh and will support Samajwadi Party in the fight against the BJP. Mamata Banerjee will hold virtual campaigns along with SP president Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow and Varanasi. She will be in Lucknow on February 8 and attend a virtual campaign. She will then will hold a joint press conference with Akhileshji," Nanda told reporters.
Akhilesh Yadav shares a very cordial relationship with Banerjee and had attended the grand opposition meeting hosted by the TMC chief in January 2019.
—With PTI inputs
