Kejriwal speaks to Mamata, hails victory

Banerjee’s emissary, TMC MP Derek O’Brien had a half-an-hour meeting with the AAP chief over tea at his office and Banerjee who is on a district-wise tour of her state spoke to Kejriwal on O’Brien’s phone for about five minutes.

In the brief interaction with Banerjee, Kejriwal congratulated her for TMC’s big victory and discussed the possibility of greater coordination with TMC in Parliament,  over various bills and issues. The 46-member TMC brigade in Parliament has been quite vociferous in Opposition Benches in the last few sessions.

Kejriwal has been keen to meet Banerjee for a while and in March it was decided that he would be in touch with her. On Wednesday he is said to have to conveyed to Banerjee that the next time she is in the Capital, the Delhi CM would be meeting her.

Interestingly, during his interaction with O’Brien, Kejriwal is learnt to have mentioned that Delhi Police being under the Union Home Ministry is a problem for the new Chief Minister. Since O’Brien and TMC Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar are members of the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs, it could help if the TMC members addressed concerns of the Delhi government in matters related to Delhi Police.

In fact, with a host of bills including the land bill that both parties are opposed to, slated to come up in Parliament next week, the TMC-AAP alignment could become more visible than it was earlier. TMC and AAP have been on the same page on various issues in Parliament, especially on the Land Acquisition Bill.