Mamata Banerjee on Thursday met Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari to discuss several road and infrastructure projects in the state and seek help for the electric vehicle manufacturing industry in Bengal.
The Bengal chief minister, who is in Delhi to stitch together an alliance of Opposition parties against the BJP, went to Gadkari’s home in the afternoon and spent around an hour before calling the meeting “very successful”.
Gadkari, with whom Mamata has been sharing a cordial relationship for years, and the chief minister first had a 30-minute one-to-one meeting. After that, state and central government officers joined the meeting, during which several projects related to Bengal came up for discussion and the Union minister pledged all possible support.
“I requested that it will be good if we have a manufacturing industry in Bengal that will manufacture electric buses, electric autos, electric scooters,” Mamata told reporters after the meeting.
“We are a bordering state and share borders with Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and northeastern states. So, we need proper roads,” she added, explaining the need for better connectivity for Bengal.
Sources in the state government said Mamata had gone prepared for the meeting and rolled out a long list, which included concrete embankments in the Sunderbans, elevated road corridor between Barasat and Bongaon (so that people do not face eviction), road projects linking Nalhati and Muraroi in Birbhum, Siliguri and Sevok and then Sevok and Rongpo in Sikkim.
Mamata said the Union minister listened to the demands and said he would help implement the projects. Bengal chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi will be reaching Delhi on Friday, after which a meeting will be fixed for further discussions, she added.
The meeting between the duo, Trinamul sources said, was significant not only because of administrative relevance.
“You should not overlook the political angle... He may be a senior Union minister, but it’s common knowledge that he is not in the mainstream. The fact that he is giving Didi time and pledging all support for Bengal projects at a time she is trying to bring all the parties together against the BJP is indeed politically significant,” said a source.
In her first visit to the capital since assuming the office of the chief minister for the third time in a row, Mamata did call on the Prime Minister for a “courtesy meeting”, but her primary focus has been developing a consensus for a united fight against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Over the last couple of days, Mamata met Opposition leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal — she met DMK leader Kanimozhi on Thursday — to discuss how all Opposition parties could be brought together for what she has called Mission Hope 24.
Veteran poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar and Bollywood actress Shabana Azmi on Thursday met Mamata and endorsed her mission.
“Yes, we need a change in the country the way Bengal got a change back in 2011,” said Akhtar after meeting Mamata.
Asked whether he felt Mamata should lead the mission to bring about a change, he said bringing in the change was more important than who was leading it.
“There are signs of divisions, violence in today’s India... We need a better democracy,” said Akhtar.
