Mamata Banerjee to meet Narendra Modi on Wednesday; BJP alleges attempt to 'save herself from clutches of CBI'

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday to discuss various issues related to the state, state secretariat sources confirmed on Monday.

She will leave for New Delhi on Tuesday, the sources said. The proposed meeting between Modi and Banerjee assumes significance as it will be held at a time when several TMC leaders and former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar are under the CBI scanner in connection with the Saradha ponzi scam.

File photo of PM Modi and Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. News18

The BJP leadership mocked Banerjee for seeking an appointment to meet Modi in Delhi calling it a "classic example of opportunistic politics" and "a desperate attempt to save herself from the clutches of CBI".

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BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said, "We all know the kind of language she (Banerjee) had used against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Lok Sabha elections and afterwards. She never had any regard for the federal structure and had even said she does not feel the need to respect Modiji as prime minister. Now all of a sudden why and for what she is going to Delhi is an open secret. It also brings out her nature as an opportunistic politician, who can go to any extent to get her purpose served and forget it once the job is done," he said.

According to another senior BJP leader, who did not wish to be named, Banerjee is going to Delhi to save herself and her party leaders from the clutches of CBI, which is investigating the multi-crore alleged chit fund scam in Bengal.

"It is quite obvious that she is going to Delhi to make an unofficial appeal to ensure that she and her TMC party leaders are not touched by CBI. But it will not work. Our party high command will never compromise on the issue of fighting corruption...All those who have looted public money will have to go behind bars," the BJP leader said.

The Trinamool Congress termed the BJP's claims as baseless and said Banerjee is well within her rights to meet the prime minister to discuss developmental issues of the state.

"The Bengal BJP leaders should stop making baseless claims. In a federal structure, a chief minister of a state has every right to meet the prime minister. The proposed meeting is related to developmental issues of the state," said a senior TMC leader.

The Saradha group of companies had allegedly duped lakhs of people to the tune of Rs 2500 crore, promising higher rates of returns on their investments. The last time the two leaders had met was at the convocation ceremony at the Visva Bharati University held in Shantiniketan on 25 May, 2018.

Banerjee did not attend Modi's swearing-in ceremony when he took over the reins for the second time in May this year and had also kept away from the Niti Ayog meeting in June.

The CPM and the Congress leader said the proposed meeting between Modi and Banerjee is a part of "political match fixing" between the TMC and BJP.

"We have been saying for a long time that TMC and BJP are playing out a fixed match in Bengal. Banerjee is going to meet the prime minister to ensure that CBI goes slow in the chit fund scam investigation," Bengal Congress president Somen Mitra said.

With inputs from PTI