“Political Meeting…” Mamata Banerjee likely to meet Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackarey and Akhilesh Yadav in the sidelines of Mega Ambani wedding in Mumbai

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to meet former Maharastra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Friday during her two-day visit to Mumbai. This will be her first meeting with both the leaders, separately, after the Lok Sabha Elections that saw Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), better than previous tallies, further helping the INDIA bloc restrict BJP to 240 out of 543 seats. “I have sought an appointment of Uddhav ji for tomorrow at 4 pm. That will be a political meeting. We haven’t met for long. I will also meet Sharad ji tomorrow at 5 pm”, said Banerjee at Kolkata airport while leaving for Mumbai.

The Trinamool Congress supremo will be attending the wedding ceremony of Mukesh Ambani’s son later on Friday evening, an event that is also expected to be attended by other politicians amongst all dignitaries. Mamata Banerjee also hinted at the possibility of meeting with Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav on the sidelines of the wedding event. “If possible will also meet Akhilesh Yadav”, she added.

As part of the INDIA alliance, The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which includes Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP), and Congress had secured 30 out of 48 seats in Maharastra in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the first election after the split in Shiv Sena and after Eknath Shinde became the Chief Minister with the help of BJP. The assembly polls in the state are slated for later this year. Similarly, Samajwadi Party (SP) won 37 out of the total 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh edging ahead of the ruling BJP in the state. TMC on the other hand won 29 out of 42 seats in Bengal, leaving BJP far behind at 12. These regional parties along with Congress and others won total 234 seats, making for a stronger opposition in Lok Sabha.

Mamata Banerjee had recently suggested the name of Awadesh Prasad, SP MP from Faizabad in UP, under which also comes Ayodhya, home to the Ram Mandir, for the post of Deputy Speaker in Lok Sabha as the INDIA bloc raised the demand for the post to be given to them as per the convention. The ‘Political Meeting’ between Banerjee and Thackeray and separate meetings with Pawar and Akhilesh Yadav thus gain significance as political pandits see this as an assertion of strength by the regional players and important stakeholders in the INDIA alliance. The alliance after the Lok Sabha polls had decided not to claim to form the government at the Centre, even as media reports indicated that few if the parties were willing to be adventurous enough to get invite support from parties breaking into the NDA alliance, one that is current in power including Nitish Kumar’s JDU and Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP.