Bengal Cong happy over Rahul, Sonia not attending TMC rally

The West Bengal Congress is "happy" that Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi will not attend Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's mega rally here on Saturday and wants Mallikarjun Kharge, who is expected to represent the party at the event, to highlight the alleged torture faced by its workers in the state, party leaders said on Wednesday.

The West Bengal Congress wanted the party's national president and the UPA Chairperson to stay away from the January 19 rally, being dubbed as a mega opposition event by Trinamool Congress, and send another leader as Banerjee had also skipped the swearing-in ceremony of Kamal Nath as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister last month and had instead sent party MP Dinesh Trivedi.

Banerjee had said on Tuesday that Congress will be represented by Kharge, the party's leader in Lok Sabha, at the joint opposition rally being hosted by TMC.

"We are happy that the party high-command has respected our sentiments. The sentiment of the state leadership was against Soniaji or ...