St Stephen's withdraws invitation to Mamata Banerjee for college event; source says principal denied permission

New Delhi: St Stephen’s College has withdrawn an invitation extended to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to attend an event and interact with the students of the institute. [caption id=“attachment_3779317” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. PTI[/caption] The event, planned by one of the societies of the college, will be held on 1 August. Mamata was supposed to attend the event, but the principal denied permission and the invitation was withdrawn on Friday, a source said. The college’s Planning Forum had submitted a request online to the authorities to invite her, but the request could not be processed due to some “server issues”. Later, they wrote a letter seeking permission to invite her, but the principal denied permission, the source explained. Principal of St Stephen’s college John Varghese could not be contacted for a comment. Mamata is scheduled to arrive in Delhi on 31 July. She will be in the national capital for three days to personally invite Opposition leaders to the “federal front” rally she plans to hold in January in Kolkata, according to party sources.