West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is camping in Delhi and trying to mobilise like-minded parties to form an anti-BJP federal front. (Express Photo by Renuka Puri)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is camping in Delhi and trying to mobilise like-minded parties to form an anti-BJP federal front, has a host of meetings lined up for Wednesday. On a three-day trip to the national capital, the TMC supremo is likely to meet BJP’s Shatrughan Sinha and Yashwant Sinha and former Union minister Arun Shourie. All the three leaders have been vocal critics of the NDA regime. The all-important meeting with her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal is scheduled to take place at 6 pm. “Banerjee is interested in having a conversation with Arvind (Kejriwal) about a number of issues, including his participation in a possible federal front… She is also interested in asking about his politics of apology and also the recent HC judgment on the EC disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs,” a source told Indian Express.
Banerjee, who met NCP chief Sharad Pawar, SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav and DMK’s Kanimozhi among others on Tuesday, has also expressed her willingness to have a tete-a-tete with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati if the leaders invite her for a meeting to Lucknow. Not one to hold back in attacking the saffron party, Banerjee on Tuesday said, “There’s no party in the country that’s more communal than the BJP.” She also castigated the ruling party over other issues like not taking up the no-confidence motion and on the Karnataka poll date leak fiasco.
It has been confirmed that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will meet Mamata Banerjee at her nephew Abhishek Banerjee's residence in Delhi's north avenue around 6 pm today.
Meanwhile, violence during Ram Navami processions in various parts of West Bengal have left three people dead. Taking serious note of the incident, the Centre has asked West Bengal government for a report on incidents of arson in last two days. The Centre has also offered assistance of paramilitary forces in this regard.
The much-awaited meeting with Sonia Gandhi is slated to take place at 7.30 pm today. On Tuesday, Mamata Banerjee said she had sent former railways minister and party MP Dinesh Trivedi to check on UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, with whom she has a personal rapport, but Sonia had left by then. Asked whether she would meet Congress president Rahul Gandhi, she said, “I told you. I had sent Dineshda to Soniaji…one person for one political party…Rahul also messages sometimes, we talk, nothing of the sort.”
Mamata Banerjee also had some tips for the Congress ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections. She said she wanted Congress to go with Deve Gowda's JD(S). "Deve Gowda is a good man, he was prime minister with Congress support. But that is a decision only Congress can take,” she said. However, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has hit out at the JD(S) during his rallies and called it the 'B' team of BJP. “JD(S) has become Janata Dal Sangh Parivar. They should tell the people if they are supporting the BJP or are with the poor of the state,” he had said.
The West Bengal chief minister said the present NDA was “very different from Vajpayee NDA” of which she was a part. She also asserted the Narendra Modi government was in the process of “winding up”. She described the RSS as an outfit that is now only “associated with real estate and shopping malls” and also took potshots at BJP for their new party headquarters. “Politics is not a business or a commercial venture. It’s a social obligation. A political party that has an office worth thousands of crores…it is not something to be proud of, it is a disgrace,” Banerjee had said.
Senior lawyer and former Aam Aadmi Party member Prashant Bhushan too dropped by to meet Banerjee on Tuesday, triggering speculation that Trinamool may support an impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. Bhusan had made several allegations against Misra on the issue of clearances to medical colleges. Banerjee, however, said, “I cannot ignore what four senior judges of the Supreme Court have said. But let other parties discuss the matter (of impeachment) and Trinamool will go with whatever they decide.”
The move to bring an impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra gained momentum on Tuesday as the Congress took the lead in signing the draft petition. Sources said that Congress leaders were busy obtaining the signatures of Rajya Sabha members belonging to the DMK, Samajwadi Party, NCP and Left parties, which had conveyed their support to the principal opposition party on the matter.
An impeachment motion in the Rajya Sabha requires the signatures of a minimum 50 members of the House. The draft petition, according to the sources, argued that CJI Misra has not properly addressed the issues flagged by the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court at a press conference earlier this year.
Mamata Banerjee met NCP chief Sharad Pawar and RJD MP Misa Bharti on Tuesday. Among those who dropped in at the TMC’s office to meet Banerjee were TRS MP K Kavitha, SP’s Rajya Sabha leader Ram Gopal Yadav, DMK’s Rajya Sabha leader Kanimozhi, former TDP minister Y S Chaudhry, Anubhav Mohanty of BJD, RJD’s Bharti, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut and JMM MP Sanjeev Kumar.
Follow our live blog for updates on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to Delhi. Will she be able to cobble up an anti-BJP coalition ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections? It remains to be seen. Today, the TMC supremo is scheduled to have meetings with BJP’s Shatrughan Sinha and Yashwant Sinha and former Union minister Arun Shourie. She will also call upon Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and is also likely to meet Sonia Gandhi, with whom she enjoys a good rapport despite cold ties between the TMC and Congress.