Most of leaders in TMC rally are allies of Congress

There can be no Congress-free alliance against the BJP as most political leaders who participated in the recent TMC-led mega rally in Kolkata were already alligned with the grand old party in their respective states, Congress leader Om Prakash Mishra said.

He said party President Rahul Gandhi's masterstroke made Mamata Banerjee realise that alliances cannot be formed by keeping Congress out of its fold.

"Mamata Banerjee kept saying non-Congress, non-BJP but in the rally the Congress party was at the centre of affairs. All parties who attended the rally already alligned with the Congress in their respective states, be it Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra or others," Mishra said.

"The Rahul Gandhi has already played master-stroke in this sense," he said.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said that the Kolkata rally called by TMC chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was an important attempt to galvanise leaders across the political spectrum to fight against the divisive government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) rally on Saturday was attended by the leaders of nearly 20 opposition parties. Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu were among others who participated in the.