Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday asked West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee whether she is going to lead the Opposition alliance, INDIA, in the Lok Sabha elections scheduled early next year.
The West Bengal chief minister is on a 12-day trip to Dubai and Spain. Banerjee, who is on her way to Madrid for an official visit to attract business investments and forge tie-ups in the publishing sector as well as in soccer, was in Dubai for a stopover.
She met Wickremesinghe at the Dubai International Airport, and reportedly invited him to the state business summit in November.
In a video posted by PTI, the chief minister was seen interacting with Wickremesinghe when the latter asked her if she would be leading the opposition alliance (INDIA).
‘Can I ask you one question?’ Wickremesinghe said and after getting an affirmative reply from Banerjee he asked, “Are you going to lead the opposition alliance”.
Taken aback by the question from unexpected quarters, the Trinamool Congress supremo said, “Oh my god!”, adding “It depends on people.”
Not satisfied with her answer, a laughing Wickremesinghe repeats his question to a person present there, “Is she going to lead the opposition alliance?”
She quips, “The opposition may be in position (power) also.”
The chief minister also posted about her meeting with Wickremesinghe on X, formerly Twitter. She said that Wickremesinghe, seeing her at the airport lounge, called her to “join for some discussion”. The two leaders reportedly had a meeting at the airport lounge where Banerjee gifted the President one of her self-made paintings.
“His Excellency the President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe saw me at the Dubai International Airport Lounge and called me to join for some discussion. I have been humbled by his greetings and (have) invited him to the Bengal Global Business Summit 2023 in Kolkata,” she posted on X.
“HE the President of Sri Lanka extended a cordial invitation to me to visit Sri Lanka. It was a pleasant interaction with deep implications,” she added.
The Bengal Global Business Summit is scheduled to be held on November 21-22 in Kolkata.
Meanwhile, the coordination and election strategy committee of the INDIA alliance is meeting at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar’s residence in New Delhi and is scheduled to discuss seat sharing and the joint campaign plan for the Lok Sabha elections 2024.
The meeting is set to be attended by K C Venugopal (Congress), T R Baalu (DMK), Hemant Soren (JMM), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena – UBT), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Raghav Chaddha (AAP), Javed Ali Khan (SP), Lallan Singh (JD-U), D Raja (CPI), Omar Abdullah (NC ), and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP).
The TMC has decided not to send any representative to the meeting either. While Banerjee is away, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee was called by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning today.
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