Just a day after an opposition INDIA bloc meeting stressed unity and better coordination among the alliance partners, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday met Congress leader Sonia Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence. INDIA bloc united to strongly work together, Mamata Banerjee told Sonia Gandhi during ther meeting.
Sources told PTI that the two leaders are learnt to have discussed the strategy between the two parties going forward after the opposition bloc meeting, and following an exodus of Trinamool members after the party’s defeat to the BJP in the recent Bengal polls.
Meeting comes in the wake of a rebellion within the Trinamool
The meeting followed after Gandhi, the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, and Banerjee met each other warmly with a hug at the opposition bloc’s meeting here on Monday. The Congress shared pictures of the bonhomie between the two leaders. The meeting comes in the wake of a rebellion within the Trinamool, with several party MPs deciding to form a separate group and align with the ruling NDA.
A majority of Trinamool’s 80 MLAs have already formed a separate group led by Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of opposition in the state Assembly. This was the first closed-door meeting between Banerjee and Gandhi after Trinamool’s defeat in the polls, and alleged attacks on party workers and MP Abhishek Banerjee after the elections.
CID team raids TMC’s central party office
In another development, a CID team earlier in the day reached the TMC’s central party office cum Kalighat residence of party supremo Mamata Banerjee as part of its investigation into the alleged forged signature of MLAs controversy that has triggered an unprecedented split in the party.
Officials of the state investigating agency, accompanied by personnel from the Kalighat police station and a large contingent of women police personnel, arrived at the party’s central office at 30B Harish Chatterjee Street around noon, sources said.
The CID’s move comes days after the agency served notices seeking information related to the alleged forging of signatures of TMC legislators on a proposal submitted to the Assembly Speaker for recognition of the Leader of Opposition.
