In the battle royal for Bengal, two Yadav chieftains from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have thrown their weight behind Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Both Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav have declared their parties’ support for the Trinamool Congress in the coming Assembly elections.
The RJD leader, who called on Mamata in her office at State Secretariat Nabanna on Monday, appealed to the people of Bihar who live in Bengal to support the TMC in the coming elections. He had an hour-long meeting with the Chief Minister during which the duo reportedly discussed seat-sharing.
Lending his support for the TMC chief, former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, too, said that the BJP was trying to wrest power in Bengal by hook or by crook.
Supporting Mamata in her contention that “Election Commission should not be guided by the BJP,” Yadav said, “Mamata ji is right in opposing the eight-phase polls in Bengal … it is BJP’s old policy to hold elections in multiple phases because more a number of phases give them the opportunity to create more problems.”