Earlier, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that ‘red cards’ are being issued only to the SP and BSP, adding that BJP is conspiring to scare people against voting. The SP chief also predicted that the BJP and Congress would win zero number of seats in Sunday’s phase six polling while the BJP would win just one seat in the seventh and final phase.
Meanwhile, the opposition’s mega meeting to strategise on government formation may not take place on May 21 as several regional leaders now wish to wait for the election results on May 23. According to reports, PM hopeful and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee reportedly told Andhra counterpart Chandrababu Naidu that the meeting can be held after the results and that current focus should be on keeping a close watch on EVMs and strongrooms.
Banerjee and Naidu held a closed-door discussion yesterday on future plans for the Mahagathbandhan. The meeting between Banerjee and Naidu took place for over 15 minutes, according to a well-placed source in the Trinamool Congress. On whether Banerjee will be attending the proposed meeting of the opposition parties, the TMC leader said that the date of the meeting was yet not decided.
“It’s not decided that the meeting will be held on May 21… it seems that it might be deferred by a couple of days and take place after May 23. Didi May be taking part in it,” he said.
Naidu and Banerjee are believed to have also talked about the voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) issue and the probable voting percentage in the so far held five phases of polling in the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections, the TMC leader said.
Earlier, Naidu joined Banerjee at a campaign meeting of TMC at Kharagpur on Thursday where he spoke high about her and urged people to vote for Trinamool to oust the BJP from the power.
Later, Naidu participated and delivered a speech for TMC North Kollkata Lok Sabha consituency candidate Sudip Bandyopadhyay at Sithi in the city.
Banerjee, who has floated the idea of federal front of regional parties, has been playing an important role for unity of anti-BJP bloc.