New Delhi: Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee’s “show of strength” to announce her arrival on the national stage badly flopped on Wednesday, with her much-hyped rally at Delhi’s historic Ramlila Maidan turning into a disaster, with its star draw, anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, staying away over “ill-health”.
Eyebrows were raised later as General V.K. Singh (Retd), who recently joined the BJP, called on Mr Hazare in the evening. Speculation began to grow in political circles that Mr Hazare might be moving closer to the BJP.
Trying to hide her disappointment, addressing a near empty Ramlila Maidan, the West Bengal CM launched a scathing attack on BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi, and announced the names of 30 Lok Sabha candidates. These include nine from Kerala, six from UP, four from MP, three from Jharkhand, three from Assam and one from Delhi.
The sprawling Ramlila Maidan, that can hold lakhs, had just a few thousands. Fingers were pointed at the rally organiser, Ms Banerjee’s close aide Mukul Roy. It was organised under the banner of Mr Hazare’s outfit ‘Jantantra Morcha’.
