Government junks Mamata Banerjee charge on no invite for Hasina visit

NEW DELHI: In response to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee slamming the Centre for not inviting her to be a part of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India, the government on Thursday said that it does not invite any chief ministers for such visits.
Official sources said that sometimes chief ministers are invited for state banquets or some other ceremonial events, but on this visit, there was no such occasion.
“In 2015, PM Narendra Modi had in fact invited CM Mamata Banerjee to Bangladesh where a ceremonial event was held for flagging off a bus service between India and Bangladesh,” sources said.
“I share an excellent relationship with Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, but (the Centre) did not invite me to be a part of her visit,” Banerjee said while addressing a special session ofthe Trinamool Congress.
The TMC chief also refused to attend the unveiling of the Netaji statue at the ‘Kartavya Path’ in Delhi saying that the invitation was “not proper”.
Reacting to the West Bengal chief minister’s refusal to attend the function, the BJP said that she was feeling bad that Netaji’s statue was being installed in the national capital. “Mamata Banerjee is feeling bad that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s statue is being installed in the heart of Delhi. She did nothing to honour his legacy and now that Prime Minister Modi has taken the historic decision, she is making puerile attempts to sully the solemn occasion,” BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted.
The culture ministry said a 100-ft-long truck with 140 wheels was specially designed for the giant granite stone to travel 1,665 km from Khammam in Telangana to New Delhi.