Wonderful Meeting ‘Mamata Di’, Says Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

In the afternoon, Opposition leaders had made a beeline for the Trinamool workplace in Parliament, together with NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Ghulam Nabi Azad and JD(D) chief Sharad Yadav. The Banerjee-Gandhi meeting came a day ahead of the West Bengal chief minister’s talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I have learnt the fighting spirit from her (Ms Banerjee)”, Mrs Gandhi said after greeting her. They met at Parliament House on Tuesday.

“Her party is also advocating the cause of the poor in Bengal“. Sinha, while criticizing the Bengal Chief Minister said, ” Instead of an all party meeting, inspection teams headed by a minister and comprising members from all the political parties should be sent to the affected areas.

Maintaining a balance and not revealing her preference between the Congress and the BJP has been the hallmark of Mamata’s Delhi trip this time. Both the leaders greeted each other, exchanged pleasantries and proceeded for dinner.

The Trinamul Congress may not be part of the UPA now but it has been backing the Congress’ protest against the Modi government on the issue of “Lalitgate” and the Vyapam scam in Parliament. Pawar was accompanied by his party colleagues Praful Patel and Tariq Anwar.

Mamata’s meeting with the PM comes in the wake of Centre clearing the phase-II of the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project in which a Rs 2361.35 crore World Bank assistance will be shared among 6 states, including Bengal. “I choose to ignore this question”, she said.

Aware of Mamata’s aversion for the Left parties, the invitation was not extended to the comrades, sources said. “There are so many common grounds for working together”. “Her hospitality has touched my heart…” The invite has been extended to other chief ministers as well. “We have decided to organize a seminar on Centre-state relations and cooperative federalism on September 22”, said Kejriwal.