Bengal BJP Anxious Over ‘Wrong Message’ from Proposed Modi-Mamata Meet, Wary of 2022 Repeat

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee’s go to to New Delhi and a close to sure assembly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday has the Bengal BJP nervous. Sources informed News18 that the saffron social gathering’s state unit is anxious that any assembly between Modi and Mamata months earlier than Lok Sabha elections may ship a “wrong message” and probably “damage cadre morale” in a state that accounts for 42 seats within the Lower House.

Banerjee is scheduled to fulfill Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs at 2:30pm on Monday the place she is more likely to transient them on the agenda of the assembly with PM Modi. Sources mentioned she is more likely to meet the Prime Minister with a delegation in Parliament on Wednesday morning.

The West Bengal CM will increase the difficulty of pending dues from the Centre with PM Modi, one thing that has solely been mentioned on the ministerial-level thus far. The Centre maintains that alleged corruption in implementation of central schemes has resulted within the Narendra Modi authorities withholding the availability of funds in sure instances. One of the primary schemes for which funds are pending is the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The disbursal depends on the Centre’s satisfaction with the transparency of the scheme’s implementation, Union Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh had mentioned earlier.

While this context of perceived animosity between the 2 leaders serves the Bengal BJP properly, many of its senior leaders are involved at prospects just like the Centre deciding to launch the funds or perhaps a photo-op the place PM Modi and Mamata Banerjee are seen to be “friendly”.

“This would shatter the morale of the cadre who are fighting a tough battle on the ground, keeping the corruption potboiler warm,” mentioned a BJP MP on situation of anonymity.

The MP cited an occasion from 2022 when Mamata Banerjee de-hyphenated BJP and PM Modi. Speaking on a decision within the Bengal Assembly towards the alleged “excesses” of the central probe businesses, she had known as the Union authorities dictatorial, however distanced the Prime Minister from it. “CBI and ED are not under him. They are all under the Union Home Ministry. All this is being done by some BJP leaders,” Banerjee had famously mentioned.

“The perception that trickled in was the two have resolved their differences. Our cadres were left disillusioned,” the BJP MP mentioned.

The lawmaker cited one other occasion from final yr when Banerjee surprisingly used softer phrases for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Singh (RSS), BJP’s ideological mentor. “The RSS was not that bad. There are still people in the RSS who do not support the politics the BJP does,” she had mentioned.

Another West Bengal-based senior BJP functionary, who can also be a sitting MLA, informed News18 that the state unit is “hoping” that the official photographs of the assembly “don’t communicate any wrong message”. He recalled a photograph from December 5 final yr when the Centre known as an all-party assembly over the G20 Summit. A photograph of PM Modi and CPI(M) chief Sitaram Yechury — each laughing and shaking arms – went viral.

“While it may be quite normal for any statesman to extend courtesy to his political opponent, its political effect on the ground is a different story altogether. Many Left voters who switched to the BJP in 2019 were approached by TMC after the photo,” he mentioned.

For the proposed assembly on Wednesday, Banerjee is more likely to be accompanied by a small group of TMC MPs as properly, together with her nephew and social gathering common secretary Abhishek Banerjee. She can even be part of the assembly of the INDIA bloc on Tuesday afternoon at Delhi’s Ashoka Hotel, lower than 24 hours earlier than she meets the Prime Minister.