New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) president Mamata Banerjee is likely to visit Varanasi to extend support to Samajwadi Party in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections next year. 


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Laliteshpati Tripathi, a recent entrant in TMC, told PTI, "Didi has already said in Delhi that if Akhilesh Yadav needs our help, we are ready to extend help. The gesture of senior SP leader Jaya Bachchan seeking votes for the TMC during the West Bengal Assembly elections will be reciprocated in Uttar Pradesh.”


He said that TMC will drum up support for Yadav in UP. "The target is the same and we have to leave no stone unturned to ensure that these forces (led by the BJP) are defeated. We are also with SP chief Akhilesh ji in his fight," he added. 


Tripathi said that Banerjee is expected to visit Varanasi around the second week of January.


"The TMC is holding meetings and deliberating how to strengthen itself in Uttar Pradesh. As far as party chief Mamata Banerjee's visit to Varanasi is concerned, we have not finalised the dates. We were planning to organise her visit in December, but owing to her previous engagements, we could not get the dates," he was quoted by the news agency. 


On being asked if Banerjee's choice to campaign in Varanasi is because it is represented by PM Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha, and if the purpose is to send a message, Tripathi said, "No. According to the initial roadmap of the TMC, the party's Purvanchal unit office was to be based in Varanasi, and Mamata ji wanted to have a darshan (of temples)."


He said the TMC supremo chose Varanasi as the first phase of the joining of new members in the TMC was to be held in the holy city.


On November 24, Banerjee had said that she was ready to extend help to Akhilesh Yadav in UP polls.


(With PTI inputs)


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