New Delhi: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata on Saturday evening, a state secretariat official confirmed on Friday.
The highly-placed official said the meeting between the two leaders will be held soon after Modi arrives in the city at around 4 pm as per his schedule.
Modi will be in the West Bengal capital on Saturday and Sunday to participate in the sesquicentenary celebrations of the Kolkata Port Trust and to dedicate heritage buildings to the nation.
"The PM and the chief minister will be meeting at the Raj Bhavan tomorrow (Saturday) soon after he reaches the city," said the official, who refused to divulge the agenda of the meeting.
The meeting comes ahead of Banerjee sharing the dais with her bitter rival at an official event in the state capital on Sunday, days after she refused to attend an opposition meeting to be chaired by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi over campus violence and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Declaring that she can fight solo if needed, Banerjee has decided to boycott the opposition meeting on January 13 over alleged violence by Left parties and Congress in West Bengal during Wednesday’s Bharat Bandh.
Modi and Banerjee have not shared the stage at any government programme since the BJP replaced the Left and Congress as the TMC’s main rival in the state.
Banerjee had gone to New Delhi last September and met Modi in a "courtesy call" after the Lok Sabha polls.
The changes in citizenship law have emerged as the latest flashpoint in the state, with the TMC opposing the legislation tooth and nail, and the BJP pressing for its implementation.
Banerjee had gone hammer and tongs against the present BJP dispensation over the issue of CAA and proposed pan-India NRC, accusing the saffron camp of dividing the masses on religious lines.
(With inputs from PTI)
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