Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Patel meets TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee

NEW DELHI: Despite having a difference of opinion on the Delhi government's standoff with the LG, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel today met TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, indicating that the Congress would be interested in being a part of the opposition coalition against the ruling BJP.

Patel, who had come to meet Banerjee with flowers and a big fruit basket, was warmly invited inside the Bangla Bhavan in Chanakyapuri by the West Bengal Chief Minister.

According to Trinamool Congress sources, Patel's visit indicates the interest of the Congress and the importance of Banerjee in cobbling together a coalition of opposition parties.

"Ahmed Patel meeting Banerjee is politically significant as it is likely that he has been directed by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi to meet the Chief Minister. Banerjee today is in the leading role of uniting all opposition parties against BJP. And Congress obviously wants to be a part of it," a TMC source said.

The meet took place in the backdrop of the difference of opinion between the Congress and other opposition parties on supporting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal against the Centre and Delhi LG Anil Baijal.

While several regional parties, including the TMC, the Telugu Desam Party, the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Left have extended support to the Aam Aadmi Party leader, Congress has crticised Kejriwal for his "theatrics".

Kejriwal's campaign against the LG, a central government appointee, over his alleged attempts to stall his government's functioning has become a rallying point for many opposition parties against the BJP.

Banerjee, Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan, Andhra Pradesh's N Chandrababu Naidu and Karnataka's H D Kumaraswamy had a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the sidelines of the NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting and urged the Centre to resolve the standoff.

Kejriwal and his three cabinet colleagues have been staying put at the waiting room at Raj Niwas, protesting against what they call a strike by Delhi government IAS officers.

The IAS officers have denied they are on strike.