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.
According to Swaminathan, B.1.617 variant of Covid-19, which was first detected in India last Fall, was a contributing factor in the COVID explosion that India is witnessing right now.
He said that the "endgame" in fighting the pandemic is vaccinating everyone. At the same time, he said that all of India should "shut down", as some states have done.
There is desparate struggle for oxygen and there is a major shortage of hospital beds. Crematoriums and morgues are packed and can't keep up with the constant flow of corpses coming in.
Social media is flooded with desparate pleas from people for oxygen for their loved ones while others have no option but to circle hospitals in the capital Delhi while begging for a bed.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa, President of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management committee & National Spokesman of the Akali Dal shared a celebratory tweet on Sidhu's release along with pictures and video on Instagram.
