MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: The INDIA block got off to a flying start, amid a frenzied scrutiny on the unity of the 26 ideologically disparate political outfits, with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee arriving in Mumbai well ahead of the three-day packed schedule.
Banerjee wasted no time in setting the discourse as she went on meet former CM Uddhav Thackeray, who ran Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance for two-and-half years in Maharashtra with Congress and NCP, and also joining the Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan and his family at Jalsa, their official residence. She later tied a rakhi to Uddhav, on the auspicious eve of Rakshabandhan.
Earlier, Thackeray junior and former MP Sanjay Nirupam went to receive Banerjee at Chattrapati Shivaji Terminal.
The leaders refused to speak to media.
Bachchan, whose own tryst with politics was short-lived in 1980s when he won the election from Prayagraj, has had awkward political dalliances subsequently with only his wife Jaya getting elected on a Rajya Sabha ticket from the Samajwadi Party.
Banerjee’s photo-op is being seen a sharp riposte to political pundits on the use of celebrities to drum up support in favour of INDIA. Earlier this year, various Bollywood stars including Pooja Bhatt, Swara Bhaskar, Riya Sen, Sushant Singh, Amol Palekar and Rashmi Desai had raised the glam quotient of Congress by joining Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Arrangements have been made to strictly restrict any political statements to be made only at Hotel Grand Hyatt jointly by the members of INDIA front, after sweeping remarks given by party leaders on choice of prime ministerial candidate.