Mamata meets PM, set to have tea with Sonia today
■ TMC chief ’s Mission 2024 in full swing in Delhi
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, on her first visit to New Delhi after winning the Assembly elections, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several Opposition leaders on Tuesday. She is due to meet many more over the next few days.
After her meeting with Mr Modi, Ms Banerjee told reporters that the PM should convene an allparty meeting to discuss the Pegasus snooping issue and decide on a Supreme Court-led probe. Her nephew Abhishek Banerjee is among the potential targets whose names have surfaced as part of a worldwide investigation by a media consortium.
The chief minister described her meeting with the Prime Minister as a “courtesy call” — she had discussed the Covid-19 situation, the supply of vaccines and medicines to the state and also a proposal to rename Bengal as Bangla. “I should not speak about what the PM said,” she said. The CM and the Prime Minister had met briefly in May, when Ms Banerjee’s move to skip the PM’s Cyclone Yaas review meeting turned into a huge flashpoint between the Centre and West Bengal. Ms Banerjee had left the meeting after handing over a report.
Her New Delhi visit is being seen as a bid to sew up Opposition unity in the coming days. In the past
couple of weeks, the Congress has warmed up to Ms Banerjee’s TMC. She will meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday. She said: “On Wednesday, I am meeting Sonia Gandhi. She has invited me for tea.”
On her plan to bring all the Opposition parties on one platform, she said: “Though the Lok Sabha polls are far away, we must start planning in advance. Assembly elections will be held in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand Punjab and Tripura. Our people were arrested in Tripura.” Responding to a question on Opposition unity
◗ THE CHIEF MINISTER described her meeting with the Prime Minister as a ‘courtesy call’ — she had discussed the Covid19 situation, the supply of vaccines and medicines to the state and also a proposal to rename Bengal as Bangla
against the ruling NDA, she said it will take shape on its own. Asked whether she would lead the Opposition parties, Ms Banerjee said that “the country will lead Opposition unity”.
Ms Banerjee also met Congress leaders Kamal Nath, Anand Sharma and Abhishek “Manu” Singhvi on Tuesday. After the meeting, Mr Kamal Nath said he had come to congratulate Ms Banerjee for her election win in West Bengal and discussed the current situation in the country, such as issues like inflation. He said he had “good relations with Mamataji… going back a long time”. Her victory in Bengal has given a clear message to the country and she stands firmly with the truth, Mr Nath added. Ms Banerjee said: “Many parties and their leaders are old friends. I am meeting them.”
The West Bengal CM’s three-day visit to New Delhi is action-packed with many politically significant meetings. Ms
Banerjee will also meet Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday. Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav is likely to call on her and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar is also expected to meet Ms Banerjee. Interestingly, poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who was assisting the TMC, met Mr Pawar and the top Congress leadership, triggering speculation about a united Opposition front before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.