Mamata to skip NITI Aayog meeting in Delhi

Mamata Banerjee's similar posture is not new but her latest decision gives credence to the possibility of the all-out attempt of anti-BJP parties to come together under a platform to step up the anti-BJP war cry just a year before the general elections scheduled next year.

Kolkata: A day after her party's decision to boycott the inauguration of the newly-built parliament building, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday cancelled her New Delhi trip to attend the NITI Aayog meeting, which she was supposed to attend, in a move that can be termed as a banner of revolt against the BJP-led Centre.

Mamata's gesture coincides with her party Trinamool Congress's pitch to project itself as the mainstay of anti-BJP parties march just before the 2024 general elections. Mamata Banerjee's similar posture is not new but her latest decision gives credence to the possibility of the all-out attempt of anti-BJP parties to come together under a platform to step up the anti-BJP war cry just a year before the general elections scheduled next year. Despite the fact that Mamata Banerjee's boycott of NITI Aayog meetings consecutively in 2018, 2019 and 2021 had earlier made news though with little political impact, her decision to skip this year's meeting assumes significance, especially on a day when all 19 opposition parties made a chorus for boycotting the inauguration of the new parliament building on May 28.

On Wednesday, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also sought to project his party as the mainstay to lead an anti-BJP alliance. Taking a potshot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Rs 2,000 withdrawal, Chowdhury emphasised that his party can be the best alternative to lead the anti-BJP alliance. The chain of events on Wednesday may point towards coming up of an anti-BJP alliance though the question remains about their unity and ultimate success. Mamata Banerjee had earlier raised the banner of revolt against the BJP and convened a meeting of similar-minded party leaders in Kolkata just before the 2018 general elections but it came a cropper with the BJP getting a thumping majority.