West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reaches Delhi; to meet Sharad Pawar, Sonia Gandhi

NEW DELHI: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday reached Delhi where she is expected to meet several opposition leaders including Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar to discuss ways to take on Narendra Modi government inside and outside the parliament.

Banerjee, who is also the Trinamool Congress chief, is also expected to meet UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. 

During her meeting with Pawar, Banerjee is expected to discuss the current political situation. 

Pawar had convened a meeting of opposition parties in January this year.

There have been suggestions that the opposition parties should put up common candidates against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. 

There also have been efforts to form a third front of parties that want to be equi-distant from both BJP and Congress. 

The Trinamool leader is expected to visit Parliament House Tuesday and meet "her old colleagues, party MPs and leaders of other political parties", a senior Trinamool leader said.

She is expected to meet Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday. 

Banerjee is seen as a key player in the possible grouping of non-BJP political parties ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who is keen on a third front, had met Banerjee earlier this month.