NEW DELHI / KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, one of the most vocal critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had a cordial meeting with him at his residence on Wednesday.
“The meeting was fruitful. I have proposed Bangla as West Bengal’s name. The Prime Minister assured all help,’’ Mamata said after her first meeting with Modi ever since the BJP-led government came to power for the second term. Describing the talks as fruitful, she said they also discussed issues like development and the job crisis.
While Mamata claimed the meeting was not political, it came in the wake of the CBI aggressively looking for former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar, who is said to be close to Mamata.The Bengal CM also sought an appointment with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, though party leaders were not forthcoming about the agenda.
Interestingly, 24 hours before she left for Delhi, Mamata had addressed a meeting at Shyambazar in Kolkata, warning the BJP not to play with fire in the name of NRC.At the Kolkata airport on Tuesday, Mamata had greeted Modi’s wife Jashodaben and gifted her a sari. Remember during the general elections campaign, she had sought to attack Modi for “abandoning” his wife.
In May, Mamata had challenged Modi to prove his coal mafia allegation against her party leaders saying if he was found lying, he should do 100 sit-ups holding his ears. Later, Mamata said she felt like giving one tight slap of democracy to Modi. But on Wednesday, she invited Modi to inaugurate Deocha Pachami, the second-largest coal block in the world. The last time Modi and Mamata met was at the convocation ceremony at Visva Bharati University, Shantiniketan in May 2018.
Shah, Nadda to visit Bengal
BJP chief Amit Shah and working president J P Nadda will visit Bengal ahead of the Durga puja to look into the organisational aspects
Chequered past
This is the first time Mamata has met the PM after he won a second term. She did not attend Modi’s swearing-in ceremony for political reasons