Ready to help Akhilesh Yadav in UP elections: Mamata Banerjee

New Delhi: In what appears to be an all-round effort by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to corner the BJP across the country, she showed willingness to help Samajwadi Party in the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Taking to the press after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday (November 24), Banerjee said that she was ready to extend help to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in UP polls.

“If Akhilesh needs our help, then we are ready to extend help,” she said when asked about UP elections.

She further said that she would meet Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar when she visits Mumbai next week.

“I will meet Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar Ji during my visit to Mumbai from November 30 to December 1,” she said.

Her Mumbai visit also appears to be a move to make friends with like-minded parties to take on the BJP at the national level.

Earlier today, the Bengal CM raised issues of extension of BSF jurisdiction and violence in Tripura in her meeting with Modi.

She said she asked the PM to withdraw the home ministry’s recent order to extend the jurisdiction of BSF in the border states including West Bengal.

“I met Prime Minister Narendra Modi today over a number of state-related issues. We also spoke on the BSF's jurisdiction extension issue and demanded that this decision be withdrawn,” Banerjee said.

She also said that she raised the issue of violence in Tripura in which TMC workers were allegedly assaulted by BJP workers.