Mamata visits Ajmer Sharif, Pushkar temple

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee visited the Ajmer Sharif Dargah and Pushkar's Brahma temple, in Rajasthan, on Tuesday.

Banerjee had travelled to Delhi on December 5 to attend the preparatory meeting of the G-20 Summit chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She is scheduled to return to Delhi and hold a meeting of her party MPs on December 7. The meeting is likely to be held at TMC MP Saugata Roy's residence to discuss topics that would be raised during the Winter session of Parliament. Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee may also be present.

Reportedly, special arrangements were made for Banerjee ahead of her visit to Rajasthan.

Speaking about the rail connection between Pushkar and Ajmer, she said: "It has been a long pending wish (to visit Ajmer and Pushkar).

"I always wanted to connect Pushkar and Ajmer. It was my dream project," she said, adding that she had faced some initial resistance while implementing it.

Banerjee, as the Railway minister in the second term of the UPA government, had proposed the railway line in the budget for 2010-11 fiscal.

She also sanctioned a railway terminal for Ajmer. Work on the project started in 2010-11 itself.

"The erstwhile Rail ministry, my own department, and the then government called this project communal. I had asked them as to why the term "communal" was being used; was it because I was trying to connect two shrines of two communities — Hindus and Muslims? Both are holy places and a lot of Hindus visit Ajmer Sharif Dargah to offer prayers," she added.

"So, I decided to continue with the project and told them (the government) if they consider it as communal, then so be it." She further stated that the Railway ministry had fully funded the project. "It has been my wish to travel to both these places since then."