West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to meet PM Narendra Modi next week

Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 22

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi when she visits Delhi next week.

While Banerjee already announced in an online address to her supporters yesterday that she had sought time from the PM, it does not take away the incongruity of her decision to seek an appointment with Modi during a trip which appears to be dedicated to her effort to unite disparate political parties into one platform to put up an effective challenge to Modi in the 2024 General Election.

Of the three major things, Banerjee intends to do during her proposed visit to the national capital — holding a meeting with various non-BJP parties, including Congress, meeting the President and the PM — it is the meeting with Modi which has materialised first.

There is still no news of the meeting with various opposition parties regarding which she had requested NCP leader Sharad Pawar and INC leader P Chidambaram during her online address yesterday nor has there been any confirmation from the Rashtrapati Bhavan as yet to her request to meet Kovind. On the other hand, Modi promptly granted her an appointment.

“I will meet the Prime Minister. He has given me time,” Mamata announced at a press conference in Kolkata today.