Union Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan on Friday showered praises on Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee besides congratulating her for her excellent victory in the recently-concluded civic elections in the State.
The Union Minister’s admiration for Banerjee assumed significance ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bengal for the first time since the BJP came to power last May.
Though “I am a strong BJP man and would want my party to come to power in Bengal … as early as possible … I must say that Mamataji is a great fighter,” Harshvardhan, who was on a three-day visit to Kolkata, said.
The Minister who was likely to make a courtesy call to the Chief Minister said he would congratulate her when he met her.
“There is nothing political about it. If she has done something successfully then there is nothing unusual in congratulating her” he said adding the whole country knew that “she is a fighter and she has fought her way to that position in which she is. She certainly has some good qualities, which have to be praised.”
Incidentally, the BJP had gone hammers and tongs against the Trinamool Congress for organising a “farce” in the name of civic elections which they and other political Oppositions like the left and the Congress thought were completely rigged.
The Union Minister’s praise tended to come days before the Prime Minister was to visit Bengal on May 9. Though the top Trinamool leadership remained tightlipped over whether the Chief Minister was planning to meet the Prime Minister “there are chances that they would meet each other.”
According to Trinamool sources, Banerjee could raise certain issues like “special packages for Bengal” if there was a request for supporting certain Bills to be placed by the ruling party in Parliament. The BJP was currently upbeat about Banerjee’s nod to the Chit Mahal Bill regarding the exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh in Coochbehar district.
On whether she would back the Centre’s land Bill was “still a million dollar question particularly before the next year’s Assembly elections because it is the land issue that catapulted her to power” a senior Trinamool leader and a State Minister said.