Mamata meets Sonia; discusses political situation, Pegasus
Darpan News Desk IANS, 28 Jul, 2021 01:43 PM
New Delhi, July 28 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday met interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi here and discussed the current political situation in the country as well as the Pegasus snoogate row.
Former Congress President and Sonia Gandhi's son, Rahul Gandhi, was also present during the meeting.
The meeting was held at Sonia Gandhi's residence at 10 Janpath here.
After the meeting, Banerjee said that she was invited for tea by the Congress chief and that Rahul Gandhi was also present there.
"We discussed the current political situation, Pegasus and the Covid condition, besides discussing opposition unity," Banerjee said.
The West Bengal Chief Minister also termed the meeting as positive, saying that the results will be seen in the coming days.
She said the Pegasus spyware row was also discussed in the meeting, and asked why the government is not responding to the alleged snooping charges.
"If the Pegasus issue is not discussed in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, where will it be discussed? The government should answer," she said.
Talking about opposition unity, the Trinamool Congress supremo said, "Everyone has to come together to defeat the BJP. Alone, we (Trinamool) are nothing; everyone has to work together."
Asked if she would be the face of the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Banerjee said, "I am not a leader, I am a worker. I am a person from the streets. All the opposition parties will sit together and decide who will lead the fight against (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi.
"I want to see 'sachche din, bahut achche din dekh liya' (I want to see truthful days, seen enough of good days). Now ‘khela' (game) will happen in the whole country."
Later on Wednesday evening, Banerjee is expected to meet Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
On Tuesday, she had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After the meeting, Banerjee had said, "It was a courtesy meeting. I told the Prime Minister about the need for more vaccines and medicines in West Bengal. I also raised the pending issue of change of name of the state, to which the Prime Minister said he will see."
On Tuesday, she had also met Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Anand Sharma, among others.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal on Thursday demanded a high court monitored probe into the manner in which the Congress government in Punjab was playing with the people's lives by creating an artificial shortage of vaccines by selling vaccine doses at a hefty profit to private hospitals.
The electronic conversation took place as US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that India will receive Covid vaccines directly from the US stockpile, the White House said.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General M.M. Naravane, reached Kashmir on Wednesday on a two-day visit to review the prevailing security situation in the Union Territory (UT), the army said in a statement.
"There have been several unfounded media reports that have peddled misinformation among the masses regarding this exercise of national importance," a ministry statement said, adding that the total number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country so far stand at 21,85,46,667.
The Congress said that it was "appropriate for our initial statement to note that the intrusion by Israeli forces into the Holy Al Aqsa mosque during Ramzan prayers had ruptured the delicate peace in the region".
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday suggested the young patients should be prioritised in the distribution of Liposomal Amphotericin B drug, used for treating black fungus, "as they hold promise of future over the older ones who have lived their lives".
