Mamata tells opposition to set aside differences

Kolkata, March 31 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday urged opposition forces to set aside their "petty differences" and join hands to oust the Narendra Modi regime from the Centre.

Banerjee is slated to address a mega rally along with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu in Visakhapatnam on Sunday evening.

"There have been a number of United India rallies. However, this time we have been invited by (Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister) Chandrababu Naidu on behalf of the TDP. I am going to Visakhapatnam to express my solidarity. We will hold a meeting there in the evening and come back to Kolkata tomorrow," Banerjee said at the airport here before leaving for Visakhapatnam.

"I am always optimistic about people's alliance. An autocratic rule is going on in the country. There is massive intolerance and people do not have freedom of speech. Democracy is under attack. So I think everyone should put aside their petty differences and come together to vote against the Modi government."

She also alleged that all the major institutes in the country were being controlled by the BJP government, while disinvestments in the public sector organisations are making employees suffer.

"The public sector organisations are suffering because of disinvestment. Many workers are not getting their salary. Be it farmers or labourers, everyone's life is in danger. The freedom of people in the country is under threat," the Trinamool Congress supremo added.

Both Banerjee and Naidu have repeatedly advocated the coming together of opposition political outfits against the Modi regime in the coming general elections.

Naidu had participated in the January 19 mega opposition rally organised by Banerjee in Kolkata. A month later, he again visited the Chief Minister to express solidarity when she held a 'dharna' (sit-in) against the CBI's attempt to question the then city police commissioner Rajeev Kumar.