Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Kolkata in the first half of next month when he will attend Kolkata Press Trust programme, sources said not ruling out a meeting between him and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Being one among very few companies in the world the KPT is celebratingits 150th year from October 2019 onwards.
Though the Prime Minister’s Office is yet to give its confirmation about his attending the programme sources said in all likelihood he would come to Kolkata in the first week of next month during when he will also attend some other programmes.
If his visit materialises then it will be Modi’s first tour of Kolkata after BJP’s resounding success parliamentary elections when his partywon 18 out of 42 seats from Bengal.
“As the Chief Minister will also be invited in the programme the twoleaders may hold brief talks during the Prime Minister’s stay inKolkata,” sources in the BJP said. The ruling Trinamool Congressleadership however remained non-committal on a possible meetingbetween the two leaders saying “it all depends upon her scheduled engagements.”
Apart from the KPT programme the two leaders may also get each other to meet informally at the Eden Gardens —when India play againstBangladesh cricket team —where Bangla Prime Minister SK Hasina will come as a special invitee besides Modi and Banerjee.Known for her blunt criticism of Modi — which makes her one of the staunchest and most visible critics of the Prime Minister in the country — occasional meetings between the two leaders tend to become national news. Banerjee who had avoided meeting the Prime Minister despite repeated invites from Delhi for the past couple of years suddenly went to the Capital in September to meet him reportedly with a long list of demands.
Her political opponents like the Left and the Congress however questioned the timing and suddenness of her visit to Delhi saying she had gone to Capital to save former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajiv Kumar facing CBI investigation for his role as the chief of the Special Investigation Team in Sharada and Rose Valley chit fund cases.
“It is nothing new for a Chief Minister to meet the Prime Minister. And we hope the meetings take place in Kolkata in the sidelines of other events so that the people of the State get benefited from suchparleys,” a senior TMC leader and Minister said “looking forward to the meeting.”