The Trinamool Congress will hold a meeting with all its party MPs, MLAs and senior leaders on November 16 to chalk out a blueprint for a proposed anti-BJP rally to be held here on January 19, 2019, a party official said on Thursday.

The meeting, to be held in Kolkata’s Netaji Indoor Stadium, will be presided by Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, who will also be the main speaker at the programme.

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As part of her tirade against the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre and to step up efforts to forge a ‘federal front’ ahead of the 2019 Assembly polls, Banerjee announced the mega anti-BJP rally for which she would invite several top opposition leaders from across the country including UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

“Trinamool Congress will hold a meeting at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on November 16 with all the party MPs, MLAs, core committee members, district and block presidents to discuss the organisational matters regarding the January 19 rally here,” Trinamool Secretary General Partha Chatterjee told the media here.

“Banerjee, who has called for the rally to assemble everyone against BJP’s communalist forces, will be present as the main speaker in the meeting. Leaders of the party’s youth, student and women wings will also be present,” he said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah have already confirmed their presence in the January 19 rally while Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Bahujan Samaj Party Chief Mayawati are also expected to come.

Reiterating Banerjee’s allegations about the BJP-government controlling the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Chatterjee said the recent developments pertaining to the country’s top investigation agency have undermined its credibility.

“People can see how the CBI is being controlled by the BJP government at the Centre. We have repeatedly alleged that they (BJP) are influencing and controlling the moves of CBI. A corrupt government is trying to charge others with corruption,” Chatterjee said.

“It is alarming how the BJP government is bulldozing independent agencies like CBI in the name of controlling them. They have brought the credibility of these agencies under question mark. Our claims that CBI is a BJP controlled agency has been reinforced by the recent development.”

The Narendra Modi government on Wednesday asked CBI Director Alok Verma to go on leave as his rift with Special Director Rakesh Asthana escalated over bribery allegations.