Mamata calls on President, to attend meeting of Oppn parties

Bengal Chief Minister called on President Ram Nath Kovind in Rashtrapati Bhawan on Thursday evening. Banerjee has followed this tradition of calling on the President whenever she is in the capital. She shared a warm equation with former President Pranab Mukherjee and made it a point to meet him on her Delhi trips.

Addressing media persons, Banerjee she said had a wonderful interaction with President Kovind. " It was a very pleasant meeting and I have invited him to Kolkata," the Bengal CM said.

Later in the evening, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel called on the Bengal CM at her South Avenue residence in the Capital. On Friday Banerjee will attend a meeting of 18 Opposition parties convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the Parliament library. Nitish Kumar's JD(U) will skip Friday's meeting after its alliance with erstwhile ally was renewed in Bihar. His party colleague Sharad Yadav may also skip meeting even as he has prior engagements in Bihar. Leaders from the Left, SP, BSP and NCP are also expected to show up at the meeting. In the monsoon session Opposition parties have adopted this new strategy of jointly cornering the government on common issues. At Friday's meeting, Opposition leaders are expected devise a common strategy to take on the government outside Parliament. According to sources, the Opposition parties are expected to take on the government over the misuse of central agencies to browbeat opposition leaders and farmers issues. The Aam Admi party has not been invited to the meeting of Opposition parties. Congress President was not keen on having Kejriwal on board following their acrimony in Delhi. The Bengal chief minister has tried to bring the AAP leader into the anti-BJP block.

The Bengal CM on Wednesday had accused the BJP-led central government of subverting democracy and said the TMC will work with all opposition parties to oust the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Giving the slogan of 'BJP quit India in 2019', Banerjee charged that the BJP-led government at the Centre has taken away the rights of the people in the country.

"Secularism is under threat," she alleged while kicking off her 'BJP quit India' campaign here on Wednesday which was commemorated as the 75th anniversary of the 'Quit India Movement'.

"The BJP-led government is trying to divide the country.

We will not allow it. In 2019, our slogan will be 'BJP Quit India'. We will work with all other opposition parties so that we can unitedly fight against the BJP" she had said.