Amid the ongoing tussle between his government and the BJP-led Centre, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal will meet his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Tuesday. Sources in the West Bengal government said the meeting would be a step towards uniting non-Congress Opposition parties before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. According to TMC insiders, the meeting might help form “a new formula of Opposition unity where all the regional parties will be united in laying down the terms to the Congress before the 2024 elections”. Kejriwal's visit to Kolkata comes days after he sought other Opposition parties’ support to defeat an ordinance promulgated by the Centre to create a new authority to recommend transfers and postings of Delhi government officers. The visit also assumes significance in the wake of a renewed attempt by several regional parties to forge a broad Opposition unity against the BJP in the next year's Lok Sabha elections. On Sunday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar accompanied by Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav met Kejriwal in Delhi. After the Congress defeated the BJP in the Karnataka Assembly elections earlier this month, Mamata said her party would back the Congress “wherever it is strong”. She said, “Wherever the Congress is strong in 200 seats or something, let them fight, we will give them support . But they have to support the other political parties also . If you want to get some good things then you have to sacrifice something.” #WATCH | Wherever a regional political party is strong there BJP cannot fight. The parties which are strong in a particular region should fight together. I am supporting Congress in Karnataka but it should not fight against me in Bengal: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee pic.twitter.com/wIazux6oKq — ANI (@ANI) May 15, 2023 Mamata skipped the swearing-in ceremony of the Congress government in the southern state and instead deputed party MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar to attend the event in Bengaluru. “Mamata Banerjee has already said that the Congress should play the role of a coalition partner because they are taking a stance against the BJP in national politics. But the Congress says they will fight against us. That should not be done . Tuesday's meeting between Mamata Banerjee and Kejriwal may help in forming a new formula of Opposition unity where all the regional parties will be united in laying down the terms to the Congress before the 2024 elections,” a senior TMC leader told The Indian Express. From Kolkata, Kejriwal will fly to Mumbai to meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar and former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Uddhav Thackeray to seek support against the Centre’s ordinance. Recently, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav visited Kolkata to meet Mamata Banerjee. After the meeting, both Banerjee and Kumar emphasised that all anti-BJP forces should work together with open minds and shed their ego to forge a grand Opposition alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Before that, Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav also met Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata. Both Banerjee and Yadav emphasised the need for regional parties to unite and take on the BJP. Meanwhile, CPI(M), which is working closely with the Congress in West Bengal, did not give much importance to the Mamata-Kejriwal meeting. “A chief minister will meet another chief minister. It is a very general phenomenon. We don’t think this has any importance as Mamata Banerjee has no political credibility,” said CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty. BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya said his party was not worried about Opposition parties’ attempts to form an alliance. “Before the elections, it is inevitable that some parties will talk with other parties. But the people of India have already decided that they will vote for a stable government. They will not go for any experiment,” said the BJP leader.
