West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday dropped plans to attend the swearing-in ceremonies of the new chief ministers of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh later this week after the Congress conveyed its strong displeasure.
Till Sunday morning, she was due to attend Parkash Singh Badal’s oath-taking in Chandigarh on Wednesday and that of Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on Thursday.
It was later announced her representatives would attend both events: state minister Rachpal Singh will go to Chandigarh and Trinamul MLA Sultan Ahmed to Lucknow. Ms Banerjee will be in Kolkata to attend governor M.K. Narayanan’s address to the Assembly on March 15.
Trinamul MP tweeted Sunday afternoon: “Just spoke to Mamatadi. She was keen to (go to) Chandigarh/Lucknow... now she will be in Bengal for the governor’s address.”
Earlier, in New Delhi, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi warned her “not to cross the lakshman rekha”, saying NDA interactions “beyond the normal boundaries of social courtesy... will become immoral”. But after it was announced she wouldn’t go, there appeared to be a change of tone.
“These are social courtesies which frequently happen in politics,” Mr Singhvi said. “I don’t understand why her going or not going ... should be read as if pregnant with all kinds of meaning.”