Mamata may skip UP campaign

Jan 19, 2012 - MANISH ANAND |

Age Correspondent

New Delhi

Even after having announced to contest over 200 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is not likely to campaign in the state. The move on the part of Ms Banerjee to avoid UP is likely to help the Congress avert being dragged into war of words with the Trinamul Congress in the Hindi cow belt.

“Didi (Mamata) will not go to UP. She is busy in West Bengal and she has lots of work to do there. Other senior party leaders will campaign in the state,” said a senior Trinamul Congress leader and minister of state in the UPA government.
It has been learnt that MoSes Mukul Roy and Sultan Ahmed, along with TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar will campaign in UP. There is also a possibility that the railway minister and only member of the Trinamul Congress in the Cabinet Dinesh Trivedi might also campaign in UP, though he is stated to be busy in the preparations of the Railway Budget.
Though the Trinamul Congress is fielding candidates in UP in a big way, the party apparently does not enjoy any base in the state. However, the Trinamul Congress is testing the water in the Hindi cow belt as part of a strategy to grow as a national political party.
The Trinamul Congress, however, has chalked out the strategy to take on both UP chief minister Mayawati and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav.

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