New Delhi: A senior minister in the West Bengal cabinet said that West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee would begin a two-month nationwide tour in November to shore up support for the party’s mega anti-BJP rally in Kolkata on January 19, 2019.

Besides New Delhi, she will visit state capitals and interact with the top leaders of different regional parties after Durga Puja and Diwali festivities get over, he said.

“She will personally invite and persuade them to be present at the Kolkata rally. She has also prepared a list of leaders whom she would like to meet. Her priorities in the list are former Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and his son TejashwiYadav, Samajwadi Party leader, AkhileshYadav, BahujanSamaj Party leader Mayawati and Telengana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao,” the minister said.

On Saturday, at the 25th year of Trinamool martyr’s day rally, Mamata Banerjee announced January 19 as the date for the anti-BJP rally in Kolkata. Later in the day, she also announced that she would invite top Congress leaders like Sonia Gandhi to be present at the rally. In response, the BJP has called a rally at the same venue on January 23 where Prime Minister, Narendra Modi will be the principal speaker.

“The clear instructions from the chief minister are to start preparations immediately after the festive season to make the anti-BJP rally a grand success. We will work according to her instructions and we are sure that majority of anti-BJP forces in the country and even leaders from some current NDA allies will accept her invitation and make their presence felt at the January 19 rally,” said state transport minister Suvendu Adhikari.