Rare camaraderie was witnessed between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday — a day before she lands in Delhi for a meeting with the Prime Minister.
Banerjee, who is likely to meet the Prime Minister in New Delhi on Wednesday, for discussions on various issues, tweeted: “Birthday greetings to Prime Minister @narendramodi ji.” Modi, too, took to the micro-blogging site to thank Banerjee, whom he referred to as ‘Didi’.
Replying in both English and Bengali, he tweeted, “Thank you so much Mamata Didi.”
Describing her scheduled meeting as a “courtesy”, Banerjee said she would highlight various issues such as funds that are due to the State. Talking to reporters at the city airport, Banerjee said she would also raise issues such as name change of the State as well merger of public sector banks.
“I go to Delhi rarely. This is routine work. This time, I am going to talk about funds that are due to West Bengal. I will also highlight issues such as change of West Bengal’s name, merger of public sector banks, issues with Air India, BSNL and Railways, where there are several problems. They (employees of these organisations) have nowhere to go but come to us,” Banerjee said.
Taking a dig at the Chief Minister, BJP national General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said she had sought an appointment with Modi as a “last-ditch bid to save city’s ex-police chief Rajeev Kumar”.
Vijayvargiya also claimed that the TMC leader was aware that “Kumar’s arrest would ensure that half of her State Cabinet ends up in jail” in connection with the multi-crore Saradha chitfund scam.
“Earlier, on each and every issue, she used to abuse PM Narendra Modi. She even said she does not feel the need to respect Modiji as the Prime Minister. She didn’t attend the swearing-in ceremony, NITI Aayog meeting and the meeting of the chief ministers. Why is she seeking a meeting with PM Modi all of a sudden is anybody’s guess,” Vijayvargiya asked. The BJP leader maintained that the TMC chief’s efforts to save Kumar and other party leaders would yield no result.
Meanwhile, the CBI on Tuesday set up a special team to trace Rajeev Kumar, who is allegedly on the run in connection with the Saradha ponzi scam case.