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Mamata to meet president, PM in Delhi today
The Trinamool Congress chief arrived in Delhi on Thursday afternoon with her nephew and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is set to meet President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during her 4-day visit to the national capital and is also likely to attend a Niti Aayog meeting on August 7, officials familiar with the matter said.
The Trinamool Congress chief arrived in Delhi on Thursday afternoon with her nephew and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
The scheduled one-on-one meeting between PM Modi and Banerjee on Friday triggered a political row in West Bengal with the Left and Congress calling it “part of match fixing” amid multiple probes by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) against top TMC leaders.
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Bengal Congress spokesperson Ritzu Ghosal, who was in Delhi, said: “This match fixing has been going on since the 2016 Bengal assembly polls. The ED has questioned Abhishek Banerjee only twice in the coal scam whereas Sonia Gandhi and Rahul are being harassed every day in the National Herald case which has no basis.”
CPI(M)’s state secretary, Md Salim, said: “The meeting is part of the match fixing arrangement that has been going on for years now. It is being said that Banerjee wants to discuss the state’s demands with Modi. In that case, why is it a one-on-one meeting? Bureaucrats should be present. It should be preceded by a secretary-level meeting. All this is part of a setting. The public cannot be fooled.”
TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh dismissed the allegations as futile efforts to defame the chief minister. “Former Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee met Congress prime ministers so many times during his tenure. Are we to conclude that he too was fixing matches?” Ghosh said.
Bengal BJP leaders also dismissed the allegations.
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“Banerjee always takes advantage of her meetings with the Prime Minster, telling her people that she has taken care of all troubles. We will expect the Centre not to help her designs,” BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said.
Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, who is also a Lok Sabha member , said Friday’s meeting will not help Banerjee. “Under a federal structure, a chief minister can always meet the Prime Minister but it will not help Banerjee. Uddhav Thackeray (former Maharashtra chief minister) also met the Prime Minister but his government collapsed a week later,” Majumdar said.
Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to chair a Niti Aayog governing council meeting on August 7, where issues related to agriculture, health and economy would be discussed. The council meets regularly. Its first meeting was held on February 8, 2015. Banerjee had missed the meeting last year.
(WITH PTI INPUTS)
