Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee used the annual Martyrs Day rally of the Trinamool Congress here on Saturday to sound the bugle for the Lok Sabha election, vowing to remove the BJP from power at the Centre.
At the rally, former BJP MP Chandan Mitra joined the Trinamool Congress, along with several Congress MLAs and former CPI(M) MP Moinul Hasan. Four Congress MLAs — Abu Taher Khan and Akhruzzaman from Murshidabad and Samar Mukherjee and Sabina Yeasmin from Malda — sprang a surprise by attending the rally. Apurba Sarkar, Congress MLA from Kandi, who had a few months ago switched sides, was present.
Expelled CPI(M) MP Ritabrata Banerjee and suspended Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh were at the venue with the Trinamool leadership. Ms. Banerjee said the promise everyone had to make at the rally was to win all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. She exhorted her supporters to repeat “42 out of 42” several times.