Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday left for Delhi where she was likely to attend a conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices from other States. The conclave would take place on Saturday and was likely to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In the meeting the Chief Minister was likely to raise the issue of pending cases and shortage of judicial officers including in the higher judiciary. The programme is likely to be attended by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana.

Though there was no clarity on whether the Chief Minister would meet the Prime Minister, sources said her office had sought an appointment from the Prime Minister’s office. In Kolkata however the Chief Minister said on Thursday that her meeting with the Prime Minister might not materialize this time round as she had other engagements in Kolkata and would have to rush back to the city ahead of Eid.

Notwithstanding this the Chief Minister might hold discussions with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other senior functionaries during which she could raise the issue of Bengal’s financial dues with the Centre. According to Banerjee the Centre owed Rs 90,000 crore to Bengal.

“If situation permits she will raise the issue of the Bengal’s dues of Rs 90,000 crore from the Centre,” a senior Bengal minister said adding “other issues too could be discussed.” He however would not dwell on whether there was any likelihood of any discussion on the proposal of making Hindi the national language.

The Chief Minister had earlier skirted the issue saying she would be able to take a stand on the issue only after speaking to other Chief Ministers and opposition leaders. “It is a big issue, a matter of federal fabric of the country and cannot be discussed casually … there are other Chief Ministers who have a view on this … similarly we also may have a view and that can be discussed at appropriate forum,” she said.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated development the Trinamool Congress on Friday raised Prayagraj mass murder case with the National Human Rights Commission apparently as a countermeasure of the BJP’s frequent raising of the law and order issues in Bengal.

According to sources TMC MP Dola Sen had an altercation with an NHRC functionary when one raised the issue of “alarming law and order situation in Bengal” marked by frequent gang rapes, murders and political violence.

Earlier in an apparent reply to the BJP's strategy of sending fact-finding teams to Bengal a similar team of TMC MPs was sent by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to Prayagraj following which the said team on Friday submitted its report to the human rights panel.

Earlier the BJP had sent fact-finding teams to Bengal after Rampurhat mass murder, and Hanskhali gang-rape cases.