Kolkata: Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who is in Kolkata to attend his party's national executive, will meet West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee at 5 pm on Friday. After arriving at the Kolkata airport, Yadav told reporters defeating BJP in both Uttar Pradesh and Centre was his primary focus. He, however, did not disclose the probable issues that are likely to be discussed during his meeting with Banerjee this evening.
Political analysts feel that the meeting between Yadav and Banerjee is significant in the context of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Banerjee has already declared that TMC will fight the BJP in the 2024 elections alone. In this context, political analysts feel there is no chance of TMC tying up with other political parties. It may be recalled that several attempts at the alliance that was taken by Banerjee in the past had failed.
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Meanwhile, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister lashed out at the BJP for misusing Central agencies to harass and threaten leaders of Opposition parties. He said that ED, CBI and Income Tax were being used as political weapons by the BJP, he said adding that Opposition leaders were being jailed by registering false cases against them.
He complained that the BJP-led Central government is not doing anything to address issues of price hikes, unemployment, farmers' problems and alleviation of poverty. Instead Central agencies are being used against those Opposition leaders, who threaten it. He also held the Centre's wrong policies responsible for the current economic situation in the country. It may be mentioned that Yadav, who shares a cordial relationship with the Bengal CM, had supported the TMC in the 2021 Assembly polls while Banerjee had campaigned for him during the 2022 elections in Uttar Pradesh
