Mamata Banerjee has lost importance in national stage: BJP

KOLKATA: BJP Bengal president Rahul Sinha today said that Mamata Banerjee had lost her importance on the national stage.

He referred to media reports about Sonia Gandhi's cold shouldering of Mamata during her engagements in the capital, saying nobody was ready to give her any importance.

"Mamata Banerjee went to a Sonia Gandhi's programme, but she didn't talk to her as per media reports. From there she went door to door but nobody is ready to give her importance," Sinha said, blaming her predicament on "the charges of misrule and corruption in West Bengal during her party's rule".

Sinha refused to attach much importance to her meeting with Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh during her trip to Delhi and said it was purely an official meet for the development of the state.

"The meeting was purely on the issues of development of the state. If development of Bengal takes place we will be more than happy. Modiji is committed for the overall development of Bengal," Sinha said.

Taking a cue from Banerjee's assertion yesterday that she would resign if allegations of her closeness to the Saradha Chit Fund was proved, Sinha said, "We have never accused her. It is her party MP Kunal Ghosh and former party leader Asif Khan who have accused her."

Sinha, who had last week accused the Kolkata police of not giving permission to hold a rally of BJP president Amit Shah in the Esplande area, said that BJP state officials would meet the city police commissioner S K Purakayastha for finding a solution to the deadlock.