At the Kamakya temple, Mamata Banerjee offered prayers inside the sanctum sanctorum
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee offered prayers at the Kamakhya temple in Assam's Guwahati today as her party - Trinamool Congress - swept the Kolkata Municipal elections, winning 134 of 144 seats in play.
Mamata Banerjee arrived in Guwahati this afternoon where she was received by party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev.
"I welcome my leader @MamataOfficial Hon'ble Chief Minister of West Bengal & Chairperson @AITCofficial to Assam. She is here to offer her prayers to Maa Kamakhya & seek her blessings," Ms Dev tweeted.
The Chief Minister then drove straight to the temple atop the Nilachal Hills where the temple's 'dolois' or priests welcomed her.
At the temple, she offered prayers inside the sanctum sanctorum. She even visited the Bagalamukhi temple further uphill, a party member said, reported news agency PTI.
Ms Banerjee was offered 'prasad' by the temple authorities before she left for Kolkata. The firebrand leader did not talk to the press waiting outside the temple and the airport.
The Bengal Chief Minister's temple visit has huge significance with her party hoping to expand further in the northeast. So far, 12 Congress MLAs from Meghalaya, led by former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, have defected to the Trinamool. The party has already started making inroads in Tripura where it contested its first civic polls last month. "It is exceptional for a party beginning with negligible presence to successfully contest municipal elections and emerge as the PRINCIPAL OPPOSITION in the state with more than 20% vote share," Abhishek Banerjee had tweeted.
The party has been projecting national ambition since its resounding Assembly poll win earlier this year. The party has been campaigning passionately in Goa ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls.
Speculations were rife that Mamata Banerjee will also visit Meghalaya but a party member pointed out that Ms Banerjee doesn't want to hold any political talks or programmes during Christmas in the hill state.
Mamata Banerjee had last visited the Kamakhya temple in August 2013.