Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee arrived in Delhi on Monday evening, bringing the issue of Opposition unity to fight the BJP in focus once again ahead of the winter session of Parliament and against the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stunning retreat on the farm laws.

During the course of her nearly four-day stay, Mamata is scheduled to call on Modi to raise Bengal-specific issues. However, what will be politically significant are her meetings with Opposition leaders, particularly one likely with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Ahead of her arrival, Trinamul MPs here prepared the political ground by staging a dharna outside home minister Amit Shah’s office in North Block, protesting against alleged attacks on party leaders in BJP-ruled Tripura.

The MPs shouted the slogan “khela hobe” during the sit-in, pressing for an appointment with Shah to raise the Tripura violence.

The MPs were finally called to meet the home minister at his residence around 4pm, hours after Mamata said the first thing she would do after landing in Delhi was rush to North Block to “show solidarity” with the protesting party members.

Before Mamata arrived in Delhi, a group of over two dozen Trinamul MPs met Shah at his Krishna Menon Marg residence.

“We told him how Trinamul leaders were arrested and MPs beaten up. He (Shah) said he had spoken to the Tripura CM and would seek a report from the state,” Trinamul MP Kalyan Banerjee told reporters. The party also submitted a memorandum on the Tripura violence to the minister.

Trinamul has been trying to expand in Tripura and emerge as a key player in poll-bound Goa and Uttar Pradesh, where Mamata is seen to be harming Congress’s interests.

Against this backdrop, Mamata’s likely meeting with Sonia holds political significance. At their last meeting in July, they had discussed Opposition unity with an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.