The CPI(M) will not take part in the RJD's 'BJP Bhagao, Desh Bachao' rally in Patna, owing to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's presence, a senior Left party leader said today.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad had two days ago said that Banerjee, who heads the CPI(M)'s arch rival in West Bengal - the TMC, and rebel JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav would attend the August 27 anti-BJP meeting.
Two other key opposition leaders, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and BSP supremo Mayawati, however, are not going to attend the rally, but will send their representatives, he had said.
"Our party general secretary (Sitaram Yechury) or any other representative of the party will not attend the rally owing to Banerjee's presence," a top CPI(M) leader told PTI.
Another Left party, the CPI, has already said that it will join the other opposition parties at the rally, which it said, will be another opportunity for the "secular and democratic" parties to convey people the "need to resist" fascist forces.
The rally is seen as an attempt to forge a larger alliance of "like-minded" parties to counter the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The opposition parties had last come together on August 17, when they vowed to protect the country's "composite culture" by halting the BJP's juggernaut jointly.
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