Kolkata: In what can be termed a meeting by chance, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ran into Jashodaben, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s wife, at the Netaji Subhas International Airport in Kolkata on Tuesday.
The meeting happened when Banerjee was on her way to meet PM Modi in New Delhi, while Jashodaben was leaving the city after a two-day visit to Dhanbad in neighbouring Jharkhand, a close source said.
“Jashodaben was on her way back to hometown, while Mamata was about to board a Delhi flight when the two met at the Kolkata Airport lounge for a brief interaction,” sources said, adding that both of them exchanged pleasantries. The Bengal CM also gifted a traditional Bengali saree to Jashodaben.
“It was a great surprise for Didi (Mamata) and purely unexpected that she will meet Jashodaben didi a day before meeting PM Modi,” a senior TMC leader said.
Jashodaben had on Monday offered puja at Kalyaneswari temple at Asansol in Paschim Barddhaman district of West Bengal. Asansol is around 68-kilometre from Dhanbad.
Banerjee will meet PM Modi on Wednesday at 4:30 pm where she will discuss various issues related to state-Centre relationship and funding. She will also raise the issue of changing the name of West Bengal to ‘Bangla’.
This will be her first official meeting with PM Modi after the formation of the new government at the Centre.
The two leaders had last met on May 24, 2018 during the annual convocation ceremony at Visva Bharati University in Shantiniketan.
Comments
0 comment