'You can guess': West Bengal CM Mamata on her meeting with TN CM Stalin in Chennai

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is inviting guesses on what went on during the meeting with her Tamil Nadu counterpart and DMK Chief MK Stalin on Wednesday, November 2, in Chennai.

She arrived in Chennai for a function organised by West Bengal Governor La Ganesan for his brother's birthday on November 3. During a press briefing here, CM Banerjee likened MK Stalin to his brother and said that his interaction with the TN CM was a 'courtesy meeting'.

"Though the program was not fixed earlier, my honourable Governor requested me to attend some family function. So for that purpose, I came to Chennai," the Bengal Chief Minister said. "But without (meeting) Stalin, how can I go from Chennai? So I think it is my duty to meet Stalin Ji," she added.

When asked if the meeting was a political one, Mamata said, "When two political leaders are together, we can talk about something that may not be political but something for development and other things. And I think (meeting for) development is better than a political one."

Moreover, she refused to comment on other political parties and refused to share details about her meeting with Stalin. "I said it is absolutely a personal brother and sister relation. Now, you can guess whether it is political, or social or cultural. Everything is mixed up," she said. 

2024 Lok Sabha polls out of the conversation?

While CM Banerjee insisted that there was no politics discussed, some said that the two might discuss strategies for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024. "All opposition parties will join hands to defeat the BJP. All of us will be on one side and the BJP on the other. The BJP’s arrogance of 300 seats will be its nemesis. There will be ‘Khela Hobe’ in 2024," she recently said during a rally in Kolkata. 

West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had stated that CM Banerjee's visit to Chennai is her attempt to "restore her lost credentials in Indian politics". "I think this is a ploy to develop a good relationship with the Centre so that West Bengal does not get another Jagdeep Dhankhar as its Governor," he said. 

(With PTI inputs)