Mamata Banerjee likely to visit Delhi to meet opposition parties, may skip Congress leaders

New Delhi [India], March 15 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to visit the national capital to meet the opposition parties over the alleged misuse of central agencies against them.

This comes after the showdown in the Parliament between the BJP-led central government and the Opposition parties regarding Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in the UK and the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee into the Hindunberg report against Adani.

A top Trinamool Congress leader told ANI that the party chief is likely to embark on a visit to Delhi, however, the schedule for the same is yet to be finalised.

“…but it is likely she will be in Delhi towards the end of March or early April,” the leader said.

However, the sources stated that the TMC chief meeting with the Congress leaders is unlikely.

“Those that the TMC chief is likely to meet when in the national capital include the political parties who issued a jointly signed letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the opposition being at the receiving end of the Central agencies,” sources said.

Notably, Mamata was among the signatories among the Opposition leaders who wrote the letter.

The leaders include BRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao, JKNC chief Farooq Abdullah, AITC chief Mamata Banerjee, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.

However, there were no representations from Congress, JDS, JD(U), and CPI(M) in the letter.

Several opposition leaders including Lalu Prasad Yadav and K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha are facing inquiries at the hands of these agencies and two ministers of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia are currently lodged in jail.

The last time that Mamata Banerjee came to the national capital was during the G20 meeting called by the Centre of presidents of all political parties.

Earlier on March 5, in an attempt to echo the Opposition’s voice in unison, nine leaders of eight political parties wrote to PM Modi on the arrest of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case, and alleged that the “misuse” of the central agencies suggests that the country has “transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy”.

“We hope you would agree that India is still a democratic country. The blatant misuse of central agencies against the members of the opposition appears to suggest that we have transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy,” the leaders wrote. (ANI)