West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to meet PM Narendra Modi during Delhi trip

KOLKATA: Amid clamour over 'match fixing' between BJP and TMC, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday left for Delhi. Banerjee is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 8. Significantly, Mamata would apprise Modi about her party's support on GST, says a close associate of the chief minister. Mamata wants to assure the PM about TMC's support over the issue, he adds.

Banerjee is likely to raise the issue of 'continuous harassment' by central agencies in the name of 'investigation' into the chit fund scam, says the source.

The three-day trip to Delhi drew flak from the opposition parties including Congress and CPM that termed the meeting as a 'precursor' to the 'secret electoral understanding' between two parties. However, her party colleagues termed this visit to Delhi - that includes both professional and political commitments - as the "most crucial one" before the assembly election.

Apart from meeting PM Modi, several other 'political meetings' are lined up for her. A senior leader of the party told ET that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is likely to fly to Delhi to attend the wedding of Union finance minister Arun Jaitley's daughter. Banerjee is also scheduled to attend the wedding ceremony.

"Didi is expected to meet Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal and Sharad Pawar. All these parties are trying hard to take the idea of forming an anti-BJP federal front forward. With assembly elections approaching in four states, the meeting with the leaders of other political parties appears to be a crucial one," said the TMC leader.