Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in Delhi. (Express photo by Amit Mehra) BJP leader Subramanian Swamy held a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday. Following the meeting, Swamy laid speculations about him joining the Trinamool Congress to rest. “I was already with her (Mamata). There is no need for me to join the party,” he told reporters.
Later, he put out a tweet comparing Mamata to JP, Morarji Desai, Rajiv Gandhi, Chandrashekhar and other leaders, saying she shares their ‘rare quality’ of ‘meaning what they say and saying what they mean’.
Of the all the politicians I have met or worked with, Mamata Banerjee ranks with JP, Morarji Desai, Rajiv Gandhi, Chandrashekhar, and P V Narasimha Rao who meant what they said and said what they meant. In Indian politics that is a rare quality
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) November 24, 2021
The meeting took place at TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s official residence in Delhi around 3.30 pm. Incidentally, on Tuesday, Swamy was in Kolkata, where he met West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Subramanian Swamy with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee after their meeting in Delhi. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/1tKDDEbIQl
— Sourav Roy Barman (@Sourav_RB) November 24, 2021
At 5 pm, Mamata will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where she will flag various issues, including the BSF’s territorial jurisdiction in Bengal and the attacks on TMC workers in Tripura, the party said.
Swamy, who was dropped from the BJP’s national executive committee last month, has praised the TMC supremo on many occasions in the past.
Most recently, he had criticised the Centre over its denial of nod to the West Bengal CM to visit Rome to attend a global peace conference in October.
He had also conveyed his “best wishes” to Mamata after she had sustained injuries to her leg while campaigning in Nandigram. The incident had sparked a war of words between the TMC and the BJP in the run-up to the Bengal assembly polls.
In 2020, Swamy had responded to a tweet criticising her politics, saying: “According to me Mamata Banerjee is a pucca Hindu and Durga Bhakt. On a case by case basis she will act. Her politics is different. That we will fight in the maidan.”
On Tuesday, the TMC inducted former Congress leaders Ashok Tanwar, Kirti Azad, and former JD(U) MP Pavan Varma as part of its push to register a national presence.
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