Is Congress Reaching Out for Alliance? Ahmed Patel meets Mamata Banerjee

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Sunday met Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister chief Mamata Banerjee. Despite having differences in opinion regarding the Delhi government's standoff with the Lieutenant Governor.

Patel, who came to meet Banerjee with flowers and a big fruit basket, was warmly welcomed inside the Banga Bhawan II in Chanakyapuri by the West Bengal chief minister. According to Trinamool Congress insiders, Patel's visit indicates that the interest of the Congress and the importance of Banerjee in cobbling together a coalition of opposition parties.

"Ahmed Patel meeting Banerjee is politically significant as it is likely that he has been directed by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi to meet the chief minister. Banerjee today is in the leading role of uniting all opposition parties aganst BJP. And Congress obviously wants to be a part of it," a source said.

The meet took place in the backdrop of difference of opinion between the Congress and other opposition parties on supporting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal against the Centre and Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal.

While several regional parties, including the TMC, the Telugu Desam Party, the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Left have extended support to the Aam Aadmi Party leader, Congress has criticised Kejriwal for his "theatrics".

Kejriwal's campaign against the Lt Governor, a central government appointee, over his alleged attempts to stall his government's functioning has become a rallying point for many opposition parties against the BJP.

Banerjee, Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan, Andhra Pradesh's N Chandrababu Naidu and Karnataka's H D Kumaraswamy had a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the sidelines of the NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting and urged the Centre to resolve this standoff.

Kejriwal and his three cabinet colleagues have been staying put at the waiting room of Lt Governor's residence, protesting against what they call a strike by Delhi government IAS officers. And the IAS officers have denied that they are on strike.