Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav will share the dais with Mamata Banerjee at the Trinamool Congress’s annual Martyrs’ Day rally here on Sunday where the leaders of two important INDIA constituents are likely to deliver speeches on the way forward for Opposition politics against the BJP.

Akhilesh spoke to the Bengal chief minister on Saturday morning confirming his presence at the Martyrs’ Day rally — the biggest event in the TMC’s political calendar.

“If the weather is good, Akhilesh (Yadav) will come here tomorrow. I invited Akhilesh (to attend the rally). Every year, we try to bring a new guest here. It is not only a mere political rally, but also to save the existence of India and Bengal,” Mamata said in a brief interaction with journalists in front of Victoria House after she inspected the preparations for the rally, like in past years.

Mamata said Trinamool would dedicate the victories in Lok Sabha polls and recent by-elections to the martyrs at the rally.

A source in the TMC has said Akhilesh’s presence at the event with Mamata assumes significance as Trinamool and the SP secured the second and third largest numbers of Lok Sabha seats after the Congress in the INDIA in the 2024 general election.

The SP secured 37 seats and became the single largest party in Uttar Pradesh.

“Like UP, Narendra Modi’s party in Bengal won only 12 seats, six fewer than what it had in 2019. So, the presence of Akhilesh Yadav is very important as he, along with Didi, may put some light on the way forward to the Opposition politics against the BJP,” said the TMC source.

After her meeting with the Trinamool Lok Sabha members at her Kalighat residence, Mamata told journalists that despite Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Nitish Kumar’s JDU being part of the NDA, both were friends of the Opposition bloc.

The July 21 rally is always a special event for the TMC dispensation as it pays tribute to those who lost their lives in a police firing in Calcutta on that day in 1993. The police opened fire at a rally of Congress supporters led by Mamata Banerjee. Every year, Mamata uses the occasion to give her political directions to the TMC’s rank and file.

A senior TMC leader in Calcutta said Mamata could point out several issues that had popped up recently, including the party’s poor show in urban areas and charges of atrocities against a section of Trinamool workers and leaders.

“She may announce changes of chairpersons of a few municipalities where the TMC performed poorly in the recent Lok Sabha polls. Few TMC office-bearers might also be changed,” said the leader.

Before the Lok Sabha polls, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had sent a message that the party would not carry those who failed to perform in the elections. He specifically said those who failed to give a lead to the TMC’s Lok Sabha candidates would have to quit their posts and the party would not offer election tickets to them in future.