West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she will visit the national capital during the upcoming monsoon session and will meet several leaders including the President and the Prime Minister if given an appointment.
Briefing the media persons, the chief minister said, "Now that the COVID situation has improved, I will go to Delhi during the Parliament session and meet some leaders there. I will meet the President and the Prime Minister if given an appointment."
This would be the first visit of Banerjee after her victory in the Bengal Assembly election earlier this year.
Talking to reporters here, Banerjee accused the central government of running a political vendetta against West Bengal by not giving it the necessary vaccines and also "misusing central agencies."
"In Uttar Pradesh today, Prime Minister Modi said that most of the vaccines are being given to that state. We need 14 crore vaccine doses but we are not receiving vaccines adequately. We have received only 2.12 crore vaccines. We have bought 18 lakh vaccines by ourselves. Some states are receiving more vaccines, some are not receiving at all. It is injustice. He is slandering Bengal by misusing central agencies and running a political vendetta. He is unable to accept his loss," the chief minister said.
The monsoon session of parliament begins on July 19 and Banerjee's visit holds much significance as the Opposition is gearing up to corner the BJP-led NDA government on a range of issues including price rise, increasing cost of diesel and petrol and issues related to tackling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There has been increased political activity over the last month. Notably, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar had hosted a meeting with leaders of various Opposition parties, along with several eminent personalities at his residence in New Delhi last month. The leaders and personalities who attended the meeting include Trinamool Congress leader Yashwant Sinha, Lyricist Javed Akhtar, Rashtriya Lokdal President Jayant Chaudhary and former Janata Dal (United) leader Pavan Varma, Communist Party of India MP Binoy Viswam and the National Conference leader Omar Abdullah.
Also on Wednesday poll analyst Prashant Kishor had sparked speculation over his meeting with Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
( With inputs from ANI )
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