Leaders from most parties outside the NDA arrived in Kolkata on Friday ahead of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s “United India” rally against the BJP, held at the Brigade ground on Saturday.

Who was attending

Those who confirmed their participation included:

• From the Congress, Mallikarjun Kharge and Abhishek Manu Singhvi
• NCP chief Sharad Pawar, the SP’s Akhilesh Yadav and the BSP’s Satish Mishra
• The DMK’s M K Stalin and the TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu
• JD-S leader H D Deve Gowda with his son H D Kumaraswamy
• The AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, the JMM’s Hemant Soren and the RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav
• National Conference leaders Farooq and Omar Abdullah, and Sharad Yadav of the Loktantrik Janata Dal
• Three BJP rebels: Arun Shourie, Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha

By Friday evening most had arrived, and Banerjee met them all. Gegong Apang, a former chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, who quit the BJP earlier that week, praised her for the effort she had made to bring the opposition together and said he would also attend.

Unity, with open questions

While the parties broadly agreed that the Narendra Modi government should be removed, each expected the situation to remain fluid for some time. Congress president Rahul Gandhi chose not to attend, sending Kharge and Singhvi instead. In a letter to Banerjee he offered his support and said he hoped the event would send “a powerful message of a united India together.”

There was also no clarity on who would lead the front. On arrival, Akhilesh Yadav said the country was waiting for a new prime minister but declined to say who that should be.

Who stayed away

In West Bengal itself, the Left Front decided to skip the rally despite its opposition to the BJP. State Congress president Somen Mitra said he would not attend as he had not been invited. The Biju Janata Dal and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi also stayed away, unwilling to share a stage with the Congress, and said they would stay equally distant from the two national parties.

See also: political leaders

Originally published on 19 January 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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