Meet with Modi is Mamata's 'ghar wapsi': CPI-M

Kolkata, March 8 (IANS) The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on Sunday described West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Monday meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "home coming" for the Trinamool Congress chief.

Addressing at a CPI-M rally at the Brigade Parade Ground here, the party's Lok Sabha member Mohammad Salim said there was a competition between Banerjee and her once trusted lieutenant Mukul Roy on who can lean more towards the BJP.

"While in Bengal she declared war with Modi, she made sure to deploy Mukul Roy and (Rajya Sabha member) K.D. Singh to build a bridge with the prime minister. Now that Roy has built his own bypass towards the BJP, she is forced to go to Delhi," said Salim.

Salim said Banerjee's meet was aimed at saving herself and the Trinamool several of whose leaders have come under the scanner of the Central Bureau of Investigation which is probing the multi-crore rupee Saradha scam.

With the Trinamool shutting all doors on Roy and stripping him of all party posts, there have been speculations that Banerjee's once trusted lieutenant may join the BJP, although the saffron party has rubbished such a surmise.

Roy, a former railway minister, saw his relation nosedive with the Trinamool following his interrogation by the CBI.

"During Lok Sabha polls, Banerjee had said she would drag Modi to jail tying a rope round his waist. The people now want to know if you are carrying a rope or taking a rakhi to solidify your ties with Modi," asked Salim on a day when Banerjee left for Delhi. A

"The competition is now between Banerjee and Roy about who can lean more towards the BJP. Trinamool has always been with the BJP and this is her 'ghar wapsi' (home coming)," added Salim.

Banerjee had written to Modi earlier this month seeking an appointment for discussing waiver of the huge debt burden that her government "inherited" from the erstwhile Left Front government.

"I shall meet the prime minister tomorrow (Monday) to secure our rights. I am not going to Delhi seeking alms. The state should get its rights," Banerjee said Sunday during an event here.

Meanwhile, the Trinamool slammed Salim for his comments.

"It's not Mamata Banerjee who is meeting Modi, rather a chief minister is meeting the prime minister for the sake of her state. Their (CPI-M) penchant for opposing Mamata, has made them an adversary of the state's development," Trinamool joint secretary and state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said.