NE NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, NOV 2
TMC Chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to hold a meeting with her Tamil Nadu counterpart MK Stalin to discuss strategies for the 2024 Lok Sabha poll during her visit to Chennai on November 2, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
Banerjee is traveling to Chennai on Wednesday as she has been invited by West Bengal Governor La Ganesan to his elder brother’s birthday on November 3.
The Chief Minister, who is likely to stay a night in Chennai, may pay a visit to Stalin at his camp office on November 2 soon after reaching there, the official said.
- Banerjee is traveling to Chennai to attend WB Guv La Ganesan’s family function
- The Trinamool Congress supremo may also meet several top politicians of Tamil Nadu who are expected to be present at Ganesan’s family function
The Trinamool Congress supremo may also meet several top politicians of Tamil Nadu who are expected to be present at Ganesan’s family function, the official added.
Mamata Banerjee has in the past met several opposition leaders to try forge opposition unity.
She had at a mega rally of her party in September claimed that she would join hands with other opposition and regional leaders to defeat the BJP in 2024.
She had said at the rally held in Kolkata All opposition parties will join hands to defeat the BJP. All of us will be on one side and the BJP on the other. The BJP’s arrogance of 300 seats will be its nemesis. There will be Khela Hobe’ in 2024, she said.
Opposition party leaders however questioned Banerjee’s trip to Chennai on taxpayers’ money to attend a family programme of a “temporary’ governor.
La Ganesan had taken up the additional charge of West Bengal on July 18, 2022, besides Manipur after Jagdeep Dhankhar was nominated the vice-presidential candidate by the NDA. Dhankar’s term in office had been marked by spats with Banerjee. However, the chief minister and the new Governor have since made efforts to have a cordial relationship.
West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury described Banerjee’s visit as “Nothing but an attempt to restore her lost credentials in Indian politics”.
Senior BJP leader Rahul Sinha said, “She went to Goa, Tripura and Assam and she could nothing anywhere. The point is TMC has no relevance outside Bengal. She can roam around the country, but that will not yield any results.”
Banerjee, he said, must think about her party’s business in Bengal before holding meetings with Stalin and others.
