Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress(TMC) kickstarts Lok Sabha campaign with mega rally in Kolkata Thursday Jan 30,2014

Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress today Thursday Jan 30,2014 kicked off its campaign for the national elections, due by May, by holding a mega rally in Kolkata.

The ruling party in West Bengal is also observing its Shaheed Diwas or Martyrs Day today, an event it usually holds on July 21 every year in memory of 13 party workers killed during a demonstration in 1993.

The rally, likely to be attended by almost three lakh people from across West Bengal, is being held at the Brigade Parade Ground with the iconic Victoria Memorial serving as a backdrop

Mamata Banerjee, buoyed by her party's impressive performance in the recent panchayat elections in the state, is expected to address the rally around 2 pm.

Addressing a grand rally at the Brigade parade ground in Kolkata on Thursday, the TMC leader said that the TMC was the new alternative to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"We do not want a government in Delhi that supports rioting. We want a government that can deliver change," Mamata said, drawing on the recent furore on the number of communal riots in the country.
"The Trinamool is the new alternative at the Centre. BJP is not the alternative to the Congress and neither is the reverse true," she said