Several opposition leaders including Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president MK Stalin, and Farooq Abdullah reached Kolkata to attend West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s “United India Rally”. The rally is expected to be held on Saturday to show the opposition unity. Congress president Rahul Gandhi however will not be attending the rally and had instead sent a letter stating his absence. Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu also arrived for the rally and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shatrughan Sinha also lauded Banerjee and said that she is a “national leader” who has a “crowd-pulling” power.