Mamata meets PM; discusses Covid, demands more vaccines for Bengal
New Delhi: Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sought more vaccines and Covid assistance from the Centre during her meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday afternoon at the latter's residence in Delhi.
Banerjee termed it as "a courtesy meet" and said this was her first visit to Delhi after she retained power for the third consecutive time.
"During the meeting, I raised the issue of Covid and the need for more vaccines, medicines in the state. I also raised the pending issue of the change of name of the state," Mamata told media persons after the meeting.
Earlier this month, she had also written to the Prime Minister and urged for 11.5 crore more doses to vaccinate all eligible people of the state. Bengal has, on average, been administering 3 lakh doses per day, against a capacity of 10 lakh doses in a day — the letter had claimed. Reportedly, in July, West Bengal was allotted 73 lakh doses.
Banerjee also informed that there was a discussion over the name change of the state during her meeting with Modi. This has been a long-drawn point of contention between the two. Earlier, the Centre had informed Parliament that it has not yet given its approval to change the name of West Bengal to 'Bangla' as proposed by the state government, following which the Chief Minister wrote letters to Modi on several occasions. TMC parliamentarians also raised the issue on the floor of both Houses.
In July 2018, the West Bengal Assembly had passed a resolution unanimously to change the name of the state to 'Bangla' in the three most-spoken languages — Bengali, Hindi and English and had sent the proposal to the Home ministry.
Meanwhile, speaking on the Pegasus spyware issue, the TMC supremo said the Prime Minister should convene an all-party meet on the snooping scandal and decide on a Supreme Court-led probe. Abhishek Banerjee and Mamata's party strategist Prashant Kishor have also been targeted, according to reports.
Banerjee is on a five-day visit to the national Capital after two years. Her visit is significant as the political experts feel that the unity of Opposition parties will take shape ahead of the 2024 general elections. Even in her speech on Martyrs' Day in Kolkata, the Chief Minister urged all Opposition leaders to join hands and take initiatives to build a strong front against the incumbent BJP.
Earlier in the day, Mamata met senior Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Anand Sharma at the residence of TMC general secretary and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee. After meeting with the TMC supremo, Nath informed media persons that he had come to congratulate Mamata for her stupendous victory in the recently concluded Assembly elections.
"We have not discussed any strategy. People supported her. I congratulated her on the outstanding victory. We share a very good relation for years. We just discussed the current situation and the issue of rising prices, law and order etc." Nath also said Mamata's victory in the Assembly polls has sent a message across the country.
The Chief Minister also met another Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Tuesday evening.
On Wednesday morning, Mamata would meet all her party MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha at 7, Mahadev Road — the official residence of senior TMC parliamentarian Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, following a high-tea with media persons. Later in the afternoon, she would meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence in Janpath, which she described as 'chai pe charcha'.
However, TMC sources have not confirmed her meeting with NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
On Thursday, she is likely to meet President Ram Nath Kovind. "Though I am double-vaccinated, the President's House officials have asked for RT-PCR negative report to confirm my meeting. President's good health is a priority for all of us," Banerjee informed the media.
She is scheduled to meet Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday at around 6.30 pm. She is also likely to meet actor Shabana Azmi and veteran writer Javed Akhtar. She is likely to return to Kolkata on July 31.
