Mamata Banerjee invites Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari to business summit in Bengal

KOLKATA: They may cross swords over "political vendetta", but Mamata Banerjee is eager to share stage with Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari when it comes to Bengal's development.

The Bengal government has taken the initiative to invite the Union finance minister and the Union road transport minister to the two-day Bengal Global Business Summit, beginning January 7. The summit is Mamata's brainchild, conceived to rejuvenate the industrial scenario in Bengal. According to sources, Jaitley is expected to address the inaugural session along with Mamata.

The summit will include sectoral breakaway sessions with leading industrialists as participants. The state government has also arranged for business-to-business and government-to-business interactions. Sources say over 500 business delegates will attend the summit.

"There will be big names from (the Indian) industry and from the US, UK, China, Japan and Luxembourg. It is learnt that Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and ADAG chairman Anil Ambani are among the invitees," said a source.

Mukesh Ambani had attended the Bengal government's industry roadshow in Mumbai in 2014. The industry department has opened a website and a Facebook page for the summit.

Several ministers of the Narendra Modi cabinet have called on the Bengal chief minister. Even the spat over the Saradha scam and black money in the Lok Sabha did not come in the way of Union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu's exchanging pleasantries with Mamata in the central hall of Parliament during her recent visit to the national Capital. Gadkari sprung a surprise on Christmas Eve by announcing a Rs 20,000-crore infrastructure package for Bengal following his meeting with the CM.

The only contentious issue during the business summit could be land, especially after the Modi government made amends to the stringent Land Acquisition Act. The Mamata government has allowed relaxations in land ceiling to give a push to investments in several spheres, especially housing. State finance minister Amit Mitra has flagged off his dissent on the Centre's attempt to introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in haste, but the party didn't play up the difference to the point of confrontation. This could be an indication of Mamata trying to build bridges with the Centre on certain issues.

Urban Infrastructure and housing, IT, food processing, horticulture and floriculture, and textiles, healthcare, education, manufacturing, energy, hospitality and tourism, entertainment and financial services are some of focus areas of the summit. "The chief minister will share her thoughts on the concluding plenary," said an official. The evenings on both days will showcase Bengal's art and culture.