Mamata cancels Delhi trip on Thursday, may travel today
Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who was scheduled to leave for Delhi on Thursday afternoon cancelled her trip for the day. Sources said that Banerjee may go to Delhi on Friday where she is likely to hold a meeting with her party MPs at Banga Bhawan to chalk out the party’s strategy on the on-going Budget session.
The development comes a day after Congress chief ministers decided to boycott the NITI Aayog meeting scheduled for July 27 in protest against alleged discrimination against Opposition-ruled states in the Union Budget.
Besides Congress Chief Ministers, Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin has also boycotted the NITI Aayog meeting on Saturday. It is not yet known if Banerjee will skip the meeting to show solidarity with other Chief Ministers who are under the fold of the INDIA bloc.
As per earlier schedule, Banerjee was supposed to attend the NITI Aayog meeting on July 27. According to sources, Banerjee may fly to Delhi on Friday afternoon and will go straight to Banga Bhavan after landing at Delhi airport.
Incidentally, Congress CMs and also Stalin boycotted the NITI Aayog meet at the last moment. It is yet to be seen if the Bengal Chief Minister attends the meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to press the state government’s demands which include the clearance of dues and others. The state has been deprived for a long time. Earlier, it was learnt that Banerjee might hold a one-to-one discussion with PM Modi on Friday, one day ahead of NITI Aayog meeting.
It was not, however, clear as to why Banerjee cancelled her trip on Thursday. Highly placed sources said that it was the birthday of her party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s daughter on Thursday although it was not sure that Banerjee cancelled her trip on Thursday for this occasion.
Besides holding a meeting with her party MPs both from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Banerjee may also interact with the journalists in Delhi on Friday. It was also learnt that Arvind Kejriwal’s wife may also meet Banerjee.
Asked whether the Trinamool Congress supremo will attend the NITI Aayog meeting, a member of the state Cabinet who refused to be named, said: “Nothing is final about Banerjee attending the NITI Ayog meeting.” However, he declined to make any comment on the reasons that prompted the Chief Minister to cancel her trip on Thursday.
