Mamata reaches Lucknow to campaign for Akhilesh

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday reached Lucknow, where she will address an election rally and hold a joint press conference with Samajwadi Party president Akhilsh Yadav during her two-day visit ahead of the state assembly polls.

Yadav welcomed her at the Amausi airport here and shared this information on Twitter.

'We defeated together in Bengal, now we will defeat in UP. This is a promise to Didi, we will emerge winners. Warm welcome and greetings to Didi in UP,' the SP chief tweeted sharing a picture with Banerjee.

Mamata Banerjee, who came out of the airport with the SP chief, was also welcomed by her party workers.

On Tuesday, Banerjee is scheduled to reach the SP office where she will address a joint press conference with Akhilesh Yadav.

Apart from this, she will address a virtual rally.

Before leaving for Lucknow, Banerjee in Kolkata gave a call to defeat the BJP in the coming elections.

She said Yadav has invited her to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

"We (TMC) want BJP to be defeated and Akhilesh to win Uttar Pradesh. All of us should support him in the fight against the BJP.

"That is the reason we have decided not to contest in Uttar Pradesh this time," Banerjee, who is the Trinamool Congress chief, told reporters in Kolkata.

Banerjee said she will visit Varanasi later in February but the date is yet to be fixed.