Mamata Banerjee leaves for Delhi to attend UPA meeting

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left for Delhi on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the newly-formed UPA coordination committee tomorrow.

Asked if she would meet UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Mamata told PTI, "Right now I cannot tell anything. I am going to attend the UPA coordination committee meeting."

Trinamool Congress All-India general secretary Mukul Roy had earlier said that Defence Minister A K Antony, who met Banerjee at the state secretariat here on August 18, had made a request to her to attend the meeting. The UPA's coordination committee is formed to discuss key political and economic issues.

Mamata's visit is significant considering her persistent demand for a 3-year moratorium on payment of interests on loans of about Rs 2.30 lakh crore taken by the previous Left Front government.

The Trinamool Congress chief did not attend the first meeting of the UPA coordination committee in Delhi on August 8. The reason for the absence was ascribed by party sources to her prior engagement.