Mamata Banerjee likely to visit Delhi by month-end

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to visit Delhi by the end of this month.

Trinamool Congress sources have said that the official reason for the Chief Minister's probable visit to the national capital will be to attend the Niti Aayog Governing Council meeting.

However, a senior party leader said Banerjee might use the opportunity to meet opposition leaders.

"We heard that around the same time, there might be a meeting of opposition parties at the national capital to be convened by the JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

If that happens, Banerjee will be in attendance," he said. He explained that the possibilities of the meeting are quite high since Chief Ministers of other opposition-ruled states will be present for the Niti Aayog event.

However, the Trinamool Congress leader, refused to confirm anything whether there was a possibility of Banerjee having any separate meeting either with Congress leader Sonia Gandhi or the party's national president Mallikarjun Kharge.

Till now the official stand of Trinamool Congress is to maintain equal distance with both BJP and Congress and instead continue dialogues with the like-minded regional parties.

Recently, Nitish Kumar along with Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav had a meeting with Mamata Banerjee at West Bengal state secretariat.

In the meeting, she gave a call to all opposition parties to work together shedding their egos, she remained silent about the inclusion of Congress in her party's blueprint for a united opposition alliance.

It is learnt that even after the meeting, the Chief Ministers of West Bengal and Bihar are in regular touch with each other and continuing dialogues about uniting the opposition.