West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to meet Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar in Mumbai
Times of India | 12 July 2024
KOLKATA/MUMBAI: Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who arrived in city on Thursday for the wedding of industrialist Mukesh Ambani's son Anant Ambani, is expected to meet Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar in two separate meetings on Friday. This would be Banerjee's first meeting with Thackeray since Lok Sabha poll results.She is likely to meet SP chief Akhilesh Yadav as well.
"I'm going to Mumbai as you all know that Mukeshji's son is getting married. They have extended the invitation multiple times and Mukeshji has himself attended Biswa Bangla (Bengal business summit) multiple times upon Bengal's invitation. I probably wouldn't have gone but since Mukeshji, his son and Nitaji repeatedly urged me to go, I decided to attend the event. I have made an appointment with Uddhav tomorrow for political talks since we haven't met since the elections. I will also go to Sharadji's place and have made an appointment to meet him as well. Akhilesh is also reaching tomorrow and I might meet him as well," Banerjee told reporters in Kolkata before flying to Mumbai.
On June 4, when Lok Sabha poll results were announced, Thackeray had spoken to Mamata and said INDIA bloc must stake claim to form govt at Centre. In fact, Thackeray told the media that he had spoken to Banerjee and she was on board. Last year, Banerjee visited Matoshree and tied a rakhi on Thackeray when she was in the city for an INDIA bloc meeting. In June, Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee met Thackeray. Abhishek had spoken to Thackeray about the way forward for the opposition bloc.
Speaking to reporters, she also slammed BJP, its IT cell and a section of media for maligning Bengal over recent mob assault at Ariadaha in North 24 Parganas.
Banerjee claimed that a two-year-old incident - a video clip of which has now gone viral - took place when Arjun Singh was BJP MP from Barrackpore LS constituency. Attacking BJP's IT cell, she said, "This doesn't align with Bengal's values. They showed news about an incident in 2021 continuously for 72 hours just to damage the elections (the Wednesday bypolls at four assembly constituencies) by showing one-sided news. The accused were arrested and are still in jail... Even today, an incident went viral where someone died in Ranibandh. It was a family matter and result of personal enmity. There was nothing political. Taking action is the police's duty and they are doing so."
The CM said she would request everyone to verify news before airing them. "If requests do not work," Banerjee said she might "need to take legal recourse."