West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee arrived in New Delhi on a four-day visit on Tuesday evening. The main purpose of her visit is to address a seminar “Rising Bengal” at the India International Trade Fair (IITF). Ms Banerjee is expected to be joined at the seminar by Union finance minister Pranab
Mukherjee, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma and urban development minister Kamal Nath.
Before leaving for the Kolkata airport on Tuesday afternoon, Ms Banerjee at the state secretariat Writers’ Buildings, said: “I am going to New Delhi to attend the IITF. This year, West Bengal is one of the partner states of the IITF. In addition, I will attend a dinner party to meet the national media.” On being asked whether she would meet the Prime Minister during her stay at New Delhi, she replied: “Do I have to meet somebody just because I am going to New Delhi?”
However, sources in the chief minister’s office (CMO) said that during her interactions with the bureaucrats in the national capital, the chief minister might discuss the scope of more Central assistance for her cash-strapped government. Ms Banerjee has repeatedly expressed her unhappiness over the Centre’s role in assisting the state to bail it out from the crisis. Though the Centre had announced a financial package of `21,614 crore in August for West Bengal, the chief minister believes that the amount is too meagre. Meanwhile, political observers believe that Ms Banerjee will try to improve her party’s relations with the Congress during her visit. The Trinamul’s ultimatum to the Congress over the increase in petrol price in the recent past and the Congress’ rally have soured the relations between the two principal allies of the UPA-II government.