West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived in Delhi on Monday evening on her first visit to the national capital since assuming office after the TMC’s victory in West Bengal elections for a third term in a row. She met Prime Minister Narendra Modi today evening at his residence in Delhi. According to a schedule of her five-day visit provided by her Trinamool Congress, Banerjee was slated to meet Modi at 4 pm.
Following their meeting, Mamata told reporters that there should be a Supreme Court-monitored inquiry into the Pegasus scandal involving opposition leaders, two union ministers and 40 journalists revealed as potential targets of surveillance using Israeli Pegasus spyware that is sold only to governments. She further informed she discussed the Covid situation, the supply of vaccines and medicine to the state and also a proposal to rename Bengal as Bangla in the meeting. “I should not speak what the PM said,” she told reporters when pressed for details.
She is also likely to meet President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday, sources said. She is also scheduled to meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and other party leaders, including Kamal Nath, Anand Sharma and Abhishek Manu Singhvi. During her visit to Delhi amid the Monsoon session of Parliament, she is likely to meet leaders of other opposition parties as well. This move has led to talks about Opposition unity ahead of the 2024 general election.
Banerjee left Kolkata for Delhi after attending a special state cabinet meeting. She did not talk to newspersons at the N S C Bose International Airport in Kolkata. On her Delhi visit, the BJP’s West Bengal unit alleged that Banerjee wants to be away from the state for a few days as she is facing criticism over the fake Covid vaccination scandal, post-poll violence and other issues. Her efforts to unite opposition parties will not succeed, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh claimed.
