Suvendu may attend BRICS dinner, meet Ambani

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari is likely to travel to Delhi on Saturday to join a dinner hosted on the occasion of the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa Summit (BRICS) at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The Chief Minister, who disclosed the programme, said that he had received the invitation to attend the BRICS dinner at the President’s House and was most likely joining it.

At the dinner, the Bengal Chief Minister was likely to share the table not only with foreign dignitaries like Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but he was also likely to meet the Chief Ministers of other States. The 18th BRICS summit is being held in New Delhi on Saturday and Sunday.

Apart from this, the Chief Minister is also likely to meet industrialist Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai. The Ambanis have a considerable stake in Bengal, and the Chief Minister’s Mumbai visit would revolve around bringing more investment sources, quoting the Nabanna (State secretariat) said. The meeting is scheduled to take place sometime next week. During his meeting with Ambani, the Chief Minister is likely to seek his group’s bigger participation in Bengal. The Chief Minister said that he had also been invited by Anant Ambani, the son of Reliance Chairman, requesting him to join the Ganesh Puja celebrations.

Nabanna sources also said that the Chief Minister is also likely to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of a 2,000-bed hospital constructed by the Adani Group at New Town in Kolkata. The event was likely to take place on September 24. While one part of the proposed hospital would work for the benefit of the weaker section of society, the other part will operate on a commercial basis.

Ever since he came to power, the Chief Minister had been running from pillar to post, inviting investment in Bengal because “Bengal has everything that is required for a flourishing industrial climate... More investments would rejuvenate the economy of Bengal”, which has been in the scheme of things of the Centre’s “look east” policy.

Apart from these, the Chief Minister was also working towards setting up a defence project at Junput in coastal East Midnapore district owned by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Though he would not disclose the nature of the project, he said the previous Trinamool Congress Government had received a similar proposal from the Centre but would not respond, adding, “We have responded to the letter now.” Sources said the defence project would involve setting up a centre for testing the Indian weapon systems. The Chief Minister was also likely to inaugurate a Rs 6,000 crore expansion project of Haldia Petrochemicals, which would be done well before the Durga Pujas.