New Delhi: Neither Congress President Rahul Gandhi nor his mother and predecessor Sonia Gandhi will attend the Opposition rally called by Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on January 19. The party would instead be represented by senior leader Mallikarjun Kha-rge. Left parties will also skip the event.
The event at the historic Brigade Parade Ground will, however, be attended by other Opposition leaders like TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, Jan-ata Dal (Secular)'s H.D. Deve Gowda and RJD's Tejashvi Yadav.
DMK President M.K. Stalin might also attend the event though there was no official confirmation as of yet, sources in the party said. It might be recalled that Ms Banerjee had sent her representative Rajya Sabha member Derek O'Brien to Chennai to attend the memorial programme of DMK fou-nder M. Karunanidhi inst-ead of being there herself.
Also, Mr Stalin was the first among Opposition leaders to propose Mr Gandhi's name as the PM candidate for the Opp-osition. It remains to be seen whether he attends the TMC rally in Kolkata, which many believe is a show of strength to project Ms Banerjee as a possible PM face.
It might be recalled that Ms Banerjee, who sees herself as a potential pri-me ministerial candidate, has made clear her objections at projecting Mr Gandhi as the leader of any Opposition alliance. The West Bengal chief minister though has an excellent rapport with Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Congress sources said was keen that the UPA chairperson attend the programme at Brigade Parade Ground in Kol-kata. “But the Congress has decided to send Mr Kharge,” a senior Cong-ress leader said.
Whenever any Oppo-sition event has in the recent past been coordinated by the Congress, Ms Banerjee has always sent representatives instead of attending herself. However, she attended last month's Opposition meet which was called by TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu.
