NEW DELHI: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Friday.
The meeting between the two has raised much speculation, concern and heartburn in the West Bengal BJP.
Justifying the scheduled meeting, a senior BJP leader told The New Indian, “The concerns of West Bengal BJP are justified but how can a prime minister say no to a chief minister if he/she seeks a meeting with him.”
The West Bengal BJP has expressed apprehensions over the meeting. In a statement on Thursday, West Bengal BJP MP Dilip Ghosh had said that such meetings are used by the chief minister to send across a message to her cadre that ‘setting has been done’ in New Delhi.
Earlier, West Bengal BJP leaders had told The New Indian that Banerjee has gone on a backfoot after her minister was mired in a massive corruption row and the meeting between her and the prime minister will give her a political edge.
Speaking about the concerns of the West Bengal BJP, the senior BJP leader told The New Indian that the prime minister has to discharge his constitutional duties. He added that the work of the party is different and the work of a prime minister is different.
The BJP leader said that BJP and ABVP have been aggressively protesting against DMK government in Tamil Nadu but prime minister did meet Chief Minister MK Stalin. He also cited PM Modi’s meetings with Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.