Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bengal's Kalaikunda Air Base in West Midnapore. The two held a 15-minute meeting to assess damages caused by Cyclone Yaas, which tore through the state and neighbouring Odisha earlier this week.

This was their first meeting since the April-May Assembly election that Mamata's Trinamul swept - despite the opposition mounting a crass campaign fueled, in part, by the resignation of a large number of MPs, MLAs and ministers from the ruling party, several of whom joined the BJP.

"We will hand over a paper. Just for 15 minutes I will go. I will not be there for the review meeting. I will handover a paper with details of damages as far as we have gathered as of now," Mamata had said.

The Bengal CM submitted a preliminary report on damages caused by cyclone Yaas.

Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, who was Mamata's trusted aide before jumping ship to the BJP, also attended the meeting.

The Prime Minister and Chief Minister are expected to take individual aerial surveys of regions affected by Cyclone Yaas, which caused havoc across South and North 24 Paraganas, Digha, East Midnapore and Nandigram districts of the state.

Mamata has pegged the damage to Bengal at Rs 15,000 crore - including the destruction of three lakh houses and 134 embankments. She has already announced a rescue package of Rs 1,000 crore, and ordered officials to go door-to-door in their relief efforts.

Modi advised all agencies to ensure the restoration of normal life in the affected areas as soon as possible and asked that relief material is disbursed to all persons affected by the cyclone.