West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will on Monday meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek an interest waiver on the repayment of huge debt.
While inaugurating a flyover on the VIP Road here on way to the airport for Delhi, Banerjee had on Sunday said: “I shall meet the PM tomorrow to secure our rights. I am not going to Delhi seeking alms. The state should get its rights.”
Banerjee is accompanied by a delegation comprising, among others, Finance Minister Amit Mitra and Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra.
“We have waited for over three-and-a-half years and had given a test of our patience. We have already paid over Rs 1 lakh crore debt so far. Also, we waited so long till the recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission,” she had said.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) had on Sunday described Banerjee’s Monday meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “home coming” for the Trinamool Congress chief.
Addressing at a CPI-M rally at the Brigade Parade Ground here, party’s Lok Sabha member Mohammad Salim said there was a competition between Banerjee and her once trusted lieutenant Mukul Roy on who can lean more towards the BJP.
Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress slammed Salim for his comments.
“It’s not Mamata Banerjee who is meeting Modi, rather a chief minister is meeting the prime minister for the sake of her state. Their (CPI-M) penchant for opposing Mamata, has made them an adversary of the state’s development,” Trinamool joint secretary and state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said.
On February 25, Banerjee had written to the Prime Minister seeking an appointment and urging him to consider the debt waiver immediately.