West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, in a move that has created ripples in the political circles. The BJP called it a "classic example of opportunistic politics" while the Congress alleged that both the Trinamool Congress and the saffron party were “playing a fixed match” in West Bengal.
Citing state secretariat sources, the PTI reported that both Banerjee and Modi are likely to hold discussions on administrative issues of West Bengal at the meeting. The meeting assumes significance as it comes in the wake of Rajeev Kumar, former Kolkata police commissioner and one of Mamata's favourite police officers, facing arrest after the Calcutta High Court vacated its order granting protection from arrest to him in connection with the Saradha scam. Several leaders of the ruling TMC are also under the CBI scanner in the chit fund case.
Congress alleged that Mamata, who has been one of the staunch critics of Modi and the BJP government, is meeting the prime minister to ensure that CBI goes slow in the chit fund scam probe.
"We have been saying for a long time that both TMC and BJP are playing a fixed match in Bengal. She is going to meet the prime minister to ensure that CBI goes slow in the chit fund scam probe," said West Bengal PCC president Somen Mitra.
The BJP took the opportunity to launch a fresh attack on the chief minister. The party said Mamata's move is a desperate attempt to save herself from the clutches of the CBI.
"We all know the kind of language she (Banerjee) had used against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during elections and even after that. She never had any regard for the federal structure and had even said she does not feel the need to respect Modiji as the country's prime minister. Now all of a sudden why she is going to Delhi is an open secret. Everybody knows why and for what she is going. This also brings out her nature as an opportunistic politician, who can go to any extent to get her purpose served and forget it once the work is over," said BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha.
The saffron party is making all out efforts to make inroads into West Bengal ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections. The saffron party had won 18 out of a total of 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, only four less than TMC's tally of 22.
