West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met her Tamil Nadu counterpart MK Stalin in Chennai today amid speculation that they held talks on the general election due in 2024. She denied they discussed politics and the national election.
"It is a courtesy visit. Stalin is like my brother," Ms Banerjee told reporters. "Why politics? We can speak about development too. That's important," Ms Banerjee said.
Mr Stalin also repeated her: "It's like a brother-sister meet."
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister accepted an invitation by Ms Banerjee to visit Bengal.
Ms Banerjee came to Chennai to attend the birthday celebration of Bengal Governor La Ganesan's brother, who had invited her.
The Bengal Chief Minister has been calling for a united opposition to take on the BJP in 2024. Telangana's K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) and Bihar's Nitish Kumar have also indicated national ambitions. KCR recently changed his party's name to Bharat Rashtra Samithi to acquire a larger footprint than being a regional one.
On the question of whether Ms Banerjee would be amenable to joining forces with other regional parties to fight the BJP in 2024, Ms Banerjee had agreed the role of regional parties is very important.
"But I cannot say everything right now without discussing with leaders of the regional parties...I trust all regional parties, all of us, must work together. This is not a political meeting, it is a courtesy meeting, but whenever political persons meet, there are political discussions, but I do not know that right now," the Bengal Chief Minister said while leaving Kolkata today.
Mr Ganesan took the additional charge of Bengal Governor in July, besides Manipur, after Jagdeep Dhankhar became Vice President. Ms Banerjee and the then Governor had run-ins over a range of issues, particularly allegations that the centre tried to meddle with Bengal's affairs via the Governor.
Now, the opposition in Bengal, pointing at Ms Banerjee's visit to attend the Governor's brother's birthday in Chennai, has taken a swipe at her that she is trying to keep ties cordial with the Governor in a bid to tacitly indicate to the centre not to disturb her.
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