CHENNAI: West Bengal Chief Minister and founder of the Trinamool Congress Mamata Banerjee called on Chief Minister MK Stalin at his residence soon after arriving by a special aircraft in Chennai to an official welcome accorded by Ministers M Subramanian and TM Anbarasan at the old airport.
Emerging from Stalin’s house after a 45-minute meeting, Banerjee told the media that she had come to Chennai to attend a function in the family of West Bengal Governor La Ganesan on Thursday and that she just wanted to meet Stalin for tea.
Asked if they discussed politics, she said that there was nothing to reveal to the media about the meeting though politics would figure in a meeting between two leaders. She made it clear that they did not discuss any local issue like the Governor creating problems for the government
Stalin, too, called it a ‘courtesy call’ by a leader who had always been a friend in politics and had attended the function to unveil the statue of M Karunanidhi.
Among those who were present during the meeting were DMK leaders Duraimurugan, TR Baalu, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and Udhayanidhi Stalin, which led to the political grapevine speculating about the forming of an alliance against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Since most of the non-BJP leaders in various States were keen on defeating the BJP in the elections by forging strategic alliances, many of them were against going with the Congress initially. Now, it is learnt that the parties that had presence in specific States would field their candidates in large numbers within the State and let the Congress try and capture the States where it could win.
So, Banerjee’s meeting is suspected to have been planned to initiate the process of forming a loose alliance against the BJP in which the regional parties would hold on to their domains firmly and ensure that the BJP does not get seats in the Lok Sabha from their States.
However, Banerjee might also be meeting some BJP leaders at the function that she is scheduled to attend on Thursday and it needs to be watched if they manage to wean her to their camp.
