Mamata-Kejriwal meeting in Kolkata next week

KOLKATA: A crucial meeting between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her counterpart in Delhi Arvind Kejriwal will take place next week.

Sources from the state unit of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said that the Delhi chief minister is expected to arrive in Kolkata on Tuesday morning and on the same afternoon he will have a one-on-one meeting with Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat of Nabanna. Kejriwal is supposed to fly back to New Delhi on the same evening.

However, there was no confirmation either from the West Bengal government or Trinamool Congress on this count.

Recently, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav came to Kolkata and had a meeting with Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat.

After that meeting, both Banerjee and Kumar emphasised that all anti-BJP forces should work together with open minds and shade the ego to establish a grand-opposition alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Before that Samajwadi Party leader and the leader of the opposition in Uttar Pradesh assembly, Akhilesh Yadav also meet the chief minister at the latter's residence in South Kolkata. Both Banerjee and Yadav stressed on the consolidation of unity of the regional parties to take on BJP in 2024.

Initially, Trinamool Congress had announced its stand to maintain equal distance with BJP and Congress.

However, after the recent Karnataka assembly elections, she has agreed to extend conditional support to Congress except West Bengal provided the oldest national party of the country reciprocates the same to Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.

However, state Congress leadership in West Bengal has turned down her offer and instead stressed on strengthening its existing understanding with CPI(M)- lead Left Front.