Kanhaiya to address Left Front mega rally in Kolkata 

Kanhaiya Kumar will address the Left Front’s mega rally in Kolkata’s Brigade Parade ground on February 3.

Speaking to DH, CPI West Bengal CPI secretary Swapan Banerjee said that the party leadership has given their final consent to Kumar’s attendance at the rally.

“ Kanhaiya Kumar will address the gathering at Left Front’s Brigade rally. Our central leadership has agreed to the proposal and so did we. It will be a big boost for Left and CPI workers,” Banerjee said. 

He also said that the CPI leadership has invited eminent actor Shabana Azmi and Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of B R Ambedkar, to the rally. 

Left Front leadership has decided that general secretaries of CPM and CPI Sitaram Yechury and Sudhakar Reddy respectively, will also attend the rally. 

“We are also trying to bring former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharje to the rally. It would be a great boost for Left Front workers if he addressees the gathering even for a short duration. But considering his ill health it is not yet confirmed whether he will be able to attend the rally,” a senior CPM leader said. 

After 23 Opposition party leaders attended the Trinamool Congress's (TMC) mega rally, which also witnessed a massive gathering, the CPM is keen on making the Left rally a major show of strength ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Left Front sources revealed that the decision was taken after the demand of bringing Kumar to the rally was strongly raised by Left Front supporters. 

The Left parties intend to counter Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by arguing at the rally that even though she is trying to project herself as a champion of democracy, but her own party TMC is throttling democracy in Bengal.

“Kanhaiya can turn out to be a masterstroke for us in attracting young voters. We are banking on him to be the USP of the rally,” said a senior CPI leader. 

The development comes days after Delhi Police filed a charge sheet against former JNU student’s union president Kumar along with former JNU students Syed Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya in a sedition case related to reportedly raising ‘anti-national slogans’ to mark the death anniversary of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru.