‘Vicious ploy’: TMC writes to govt as BJP MLA 'ridicules' Mamata-Sri Lankan president meet

Mamata Banerjee met with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickramasinghe on Wednesday at Dubai airport amid her foreign trip.

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien on Saturday wrote a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, expressing his displeasure over a post made by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari. The post was referring to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's meeting with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickramasinghe at Dubai airport.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee-Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickramasinghe at Dubai airport.

The TMC leader claimed in the letter that Suvendu Adhikari, through his social media post, 'ridiculed' the interaction between Mamata Banerjee and the Sri Lankan president. He alleged that Adhikari misused his position as an MLA to try and maliciously hinder the economic cooperation between the the Government of Sri Lanka and the West Bengal government.

“These comments are an attempt to create an atmosphere of discord that goes against the spirit of cooperation and development. Such comments, made by a political representative, do not align with the values of diplomacy, respect, and responsible governance that our nation upholds,” he wrote.

Derek asserted that Adhikari's remarks concerning the West Bengal economy are entirely baseless. Praising Banerjee's leadership, he said Adhirkari's remarks were a deliberate attempt to tarnish the state's emergence as an attractive FDI destination.

The TMC leader demanded that the Ministry of External Affairs step in and reprimand Adhikari for his “vicious ploy” to damage the relations between the State of West Bengal and the Republic of Sri Lanka.

The development followed as Banerjee who is on her 12-day official trip to Dubai and Spain, had an unexpected encounter with Wickremesinghe at Dubai International Airport on a Wednesday. The leaders interacted and Banerjee invited him to the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) 2023, scheduled in November.