Mamata visits Siddhivinayak temple, meets Aaditya, Raut

During the three-day visit, Mamata Banerjee prayed for the health of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at Siddhivinayak temple; Aaditya said meeting no politics was discussed

Mumbai On a drive to develop a national footprint and occupy a prominent space at the opposition, West Bengal chief minister and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) president Mamata Banerjee arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday to meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee pays tribute to 26/11 martyred police officer Tukaram Omble at Girgaum, in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday. (Bhushan Koyande)

The three-day visit will also see Banerjee meeting leading industrialists to invite them for the ‘Bengal Global Business Summit’ scheduled in April next year.

After landing in Mumbai, Banerjee visited the Siddhivinayak Temple. She said she had prayed for the health of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who is recuperating after spine surgery. She raised slogans hailing Maharashtra and Bengal and paid her respects at the memorial of Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Tukaram Omble, who was killed in action while nabbing Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab during the 26/11 terror attacks.

Later, she met Maharashtra environment minister and CM Thackeray’s son Aaditya Thackeray and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut. Speaking to reporters after the around half-an-hour meeting, Aaditya said that no political discussions had taken place between them. He added that Banerjee met them whenever she came to Mumbai. Banerjee had also called on Thackeray during her previous visit in 2017. He said that Banerjee wanted to meet Thackeray, but this could not materialise due to the bio-bubble restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Around two-three years ago when she had come to Mumbai, Uddhav saheb and I had come to meet her. Uddhav ji and Mamata didi share a good bond. Both the leaders have been in touch and have good coordination, whether it is in Covid or otherwise...It was a good meeting and we want to take the ties between them forward,” he said. He added that the West Bengal chief minister had conveyed her good wishes for the recovery of her Maharashtra counterpart.

Though the Shiv Sena and AITMC parted ways with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) later, the two parties were part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

NCP chief spokesperson and minister for minority development minister Nawab Malik said that Banerjee was scheduled to make a courtesy visit to Pawar on Wednesday at 3 pm. This will take place at Pawar’s residence ‘Silver Oak’ in South Mumbai. Pawar was planning to campaign for Banerjee during the assembly elections in Bengal earlier this year but had to drop his plans due to health issues. Incidentally, the Shiv Sena had planned to contest the West Bengal Assembly polls earlier this year, but later decided against it and instead announced support to the AITMC.

Banerjee will also meet industrialists on Wednesday at a five-star hotel in central Mumbai. She is also expected to participate in the wedding reception of Raut’s daughter.

The outreach to both, the Shiv Sena and Pawar assumes significance in the wake of the AITMC’s national ambitions, its growing distance from the Congress and gradual poaching of Congress leaders from states like Goa and Haryana. The party has weaned into its fold former Goa chief minister and senior Congress leader Luizinho Faleiro and former Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar. In Meghalaya, the Trinamool Congress walked away with 12 of the 17 MLAs to become the principal opposition party. The Congress is the third partner in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) regime in Maharashtra.