Mamata Banerjee Skips INDIA Bloc Meeting, Calls for Better Communication with Chief Ministers

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had contacted her on Monday, inviting her to the Wednesday meeting of the INDIA bloc, but she had told him that she was unable to participate in the negotiations.

Given their busy schedules, Mamata stated she had advised the Congress to make sure chief ministers were notified seven to ten days in advance of such exercises.

Due to prior commitments for a number of the INDIA grouping's constituent leaders, the meeting scheduled for Wednesday was canceled.

Rather than the meeting, on Wednesday night, leaders of the national coalition of anti-BJP parties convened for a dinner given by Congressman Mallikarjun Kharge.

The dinner meeting featuring Rahul was expected to be attended by Trinamul's leaders in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Sabha Derek O'Brien, respectively, but both did not show up.

"I wasn't told beforehand, either. However, Rahulji called me the day before yesterday, and he informed me about the meeting," stated the chief of the Trinamul Congress, a well-known figure in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, on Wednesday afternoon at the Calcutta airport, just before she left for her tour of north Bengal.

"After that, I told Rahul, 'I didn't know, and nobody told me.'" She continued, saying that it was problematic for chief ministers if they were not given at least a week's notice because "I had my programme, and also for other chief ministers, sometimes they are also busy." "If they (chief ministers) don't know the programme seven days or 10 days (in advance)."

She had claimed she was unaware of the meeting and had already made plans when reporters had questioned her about it on Monday night.

"I knew nothing about this. They didn't even give me a call. I'm heading to Bengal's north. I could have adjusted my plans if I had known. How can I now alter everything? Before the Wayanad MP's call, she had inquired.

Mamata stated on Wednesday, citing the example of M.K. Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu and leader of the DMK. "See, so much rainfall in Tamil Nadu."

"At a disaster, a chief minister cannot leave the position. We are worried about Tamil Nadu," she continued, bringing up the state's severe flooding and downpour as a result of Cyclone Michaung's indirect effects in the south.

Mamata had been invited to the Congress's Revanth Reddy's inauguration as Telangana's chief minister on Thursday, but she would not be able to attend due to her obligations in north Bengal, according to sources. According to sources, O'Brien would attend Reddy's swearing-in ceremony in his capacity as Mamata's delegate.

There was no need to worry, according to Mamata, because another INDIA meeting was scheduled for soon.

Mamata had said in the Bengal Assembly on Monday that the Congress was to blame for the BJP's victory in three states in the Hindi heartland. She also rejected the notion that the results of the Sunday poll would affect the general election the following year and expressed confidence that a united India with an appropriate seat-sharing arrangement would guarantee the downfall of the saffron regime.

Her party demanded the immediate formation of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance under the leadership of elders like her, while simultaneously placing full responsibility for the BJP's victory squarely on the shoulders of the Congress and refusing to give any credit to Narendra Modi or his party.

In the House, Mamata stated that prompt seat-sharing would have prevented the BJP from taking control of all three states.

"I am adamant that the BJP government will not be back in 2024 if there is seat-sharing. You can be sure that India will cooperate. We'll fix any errors. A single error teaches numerous lessons. It will be useless to focus only on criticism, the woman had stated. "The vote katakati (division) was the only factor in the victory." This isn't an instance of darun phataphati, which means exceptionally spectacular. This is merely a split victory based on votes cast, and the incorrect policy is to blame."

The Trinamul leadership, according to party sources, was not totally unhappy with the results in those three states because they would guarantee the Congress's restraint in the Indian political arena and allow candidates like Mamata to continue pushing for the so-called 1:1 formula, which calls for having one INDIA candidate with the highest winnability in each of the 543 Lok Sabha seats.

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