Omar Abdullah to meet Mamata today

Kolkata: National Conference leader Omar Abdullah will meet Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at Nabanna on Friday.

The meeting of the National Conference leader with the Trinamool Congress supremo comes a few days ahead of the latter's visit to Delhi on July 31.

According to political experts, the meeting between the two senior anti-BJP leaders has turned crucial when Banerjee has given a clarion call to oust BJP from the Centre in the forthcoming general elections in 2019.

Banerjee has already held meetings with leaders of anti-BJP political parties and now the discussion with Abdullah is going to give an impetus to the fight against the party that is in power at the Centre.

Moreover, Abdullah had earlier joined Banerjee in the march to Rashtrapati Bhavan, protesting against the Centre's "anti-people" decision of demonetising high value notes. Leaders of Shiv Sena and Aam Aadmi Party had also joined the march that had started from the Parliament House premises.

It may be mentioned that there was a meeting between Banerjee and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at Nabanna on March 19. It was the beginning of the Federal Front and continued efforts were made to bring all anti-BJP political parties under one umbrella for a one-to-one fight in the 2019 general elections.

A few days after the meeting of Banerjee and Rao, Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel met the Bengal Chief Minister at Nabanna. He had invited Banerjee to join a meeting called by NCP Chief Sharad Pawar, in which leaders of anti-BJP political parties were present.

In the meeting, the strategy of national politics ahead of the general election in 2019 was discussed.