Modi, Didi set to meet on Netaji b’day
TMC calls PM’s visit to West Bengal a political stunt before upcoming elections
Amid a neck and neck poll battle between the BJP and Trinamul Congress in West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Mamata Banerjee are all set to face each other on Saturday in Kolkata in what is supposed to be their last official public appearance together before the Assembly Elections.
The occasion is "Parakram Diwas" celebration, marking iconic freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s 125th birth anniversary, to kickstart which the PM will arrive in the city in a brief visit which the TMC already dubbed as a political stunt by him to reach out to the people of Bengal ahead of the polls.
Landing at the Kolkata Airport in the afternoon, he will fly in a chopper to the Race Course at the Brigade Parade Ground from where he will travel by road to the National Library in Alipore to inaugurate an international conference: “Re-visiting the legacy of Netaji Subhas in the 21st century" and an artists’ camp.
He will also release a commemorative coin and postage stamp in honour of the Bengali legend there, according to plans. Mr Modi’s next destination will be the Victoria Memorial where he will inaugurate an exhibition on Bose. Ms Banerjee, who has been made by the Centre a member of the year-long celebration panel headed by Mr Modi, has also been invited to the event and make an address. She is expected to share the dais with the PM there.
The last time Ms Banerjee met Mr Modi was more than a year ago at the Raj Bhavan when the PM visited the state on a twoday visit on January 11-12 amid protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Before Mr Modi’s arrival, the Trinamul Congress supremo will however pay tribute to Bose alongwith her cabinet colleagues and party MLAs and MPs at Shyambazar and then lead a procession across the city.