Didi, Farooq find meeting ground

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah hobnobbed in Kolkata on Friday.

It was not exactly a meeting of two like-minded leaders, but it has set the grapevine abuzz about the non-BJP jigsaw that is beginning to fall in place.

The two leaders addressed reporters together after the meeting and their body language suggested that there is a meeting ground as far as routing the BJP in 2019 is concerned.

A wary Abdullah, walking on eggshells, stopped short of endorsing Banerjee as the prime ministerial face of a non-BJP front, but said he had come to Kolkata to take her to Delhi. The import of the words were not lost on those present.

When asked if the formation of a grand alliance was discussed, the National Conference leader said no discussion can be complete without talking about the “prevailing situation of fear in the country”. “If you talk about a true federal front, it is made up of parties with no differences. All we have to do is agree to cooperate with each other. I represent a very small party and I can say after speaking to Mamata that we should be able to defeat the BJP,” he said.

On being asked if there was a place for Congress in this scheme of things, he said that efforts were being made to include all parties in the anti-BJP formulation.

The West Bengal CM has been trying to cobble together a pan-India front. But many in the Opposition are sceptical about her efforts. She will now visit Delhi to personally invite opposition leaders to a rally she plans to hold in January in Kolkata.Politics is getting charged up.