West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asked people of Uttar Pradesh not to fall for promises made by the BJP and urged them to support the Samajwadi Party in the upcoming elections.
Addressing a joint press conference with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Banerjee said, “I urge you all to support Samajwadi Party and make them win, defeat BJP. Don’t fall for false promises made by BJP.”
Banerjee also said she will visit Varanasi – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency – on March 3.
The Bengal CM also launched an attack at her Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath over the state government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Where were you Yogi ji when people were dying due to COVID in UP? You should apologise to the families of those people whose dead bodies were dumped in Ganga? You should apologise to the public,” she said.
The SP chief also hit out at the BJP, saying the party had deployed its entire strength in West Bengal but failed to defeat Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress.
He also took a dig at Prime Minister Modi over cancellation of his physical rally in the state on Monday over “bad weather”.
“The BJP deployed its entire strength in West Bengal but they could not defeat Didi. She has come to Lucknow from Kolkata but those from BJP couldn’t come to UP from Delhi stating ‘bad weather’. BJP’s plane of lies won’t be able to land in UP this time,” Yadav said.
The SP chief said that Banerjee set the example of “Satyamev Jayate” and worked to defeat all communal forces.
Banerjee reached Lucknow on Monday to extend her support to Yadav in the upcoming polls in the state.
Following her arrival, the SP chief tweeted: “We defeated together in Bengal, now we will defeat in UP. This is a promise to Didi, we will emerge winners. Warm welcome and greetings to Didi in UP.”
Before leaving for Lucknow, Banerjee in Kolkata vowed to defeat the BJP in the upcoming elections.
“We (TMC) want BJP to be defeated and Akhilesh to win Uttar Pradesh. 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,” Banerjee told reporters in Kolkata.
