West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee meets NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Delhi

Amid conflicting reports, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar in Delhi.

Earlier in the day, while talking to news agency ANI, Pawar had denied reports of any meeting taking place with the Bengal CM.

“There is no meeting, there is no dinner,” news agency ANI quoted the chief as saying.

The meeting between the two leaders is seen as an attempt towards stitching a federal front to defeat the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha election.

A strident critic of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, Banerjee is considered as one of the key interlocutors between opposition parties. 

The Bengal CM, who reached Delhi on Monday for a four-day visit, is also expected to meet UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi at his residence on Wednesday.

Also Read | Mamata Banerjee in Delhi to meet Sharad Pawar, Sonia Gandhi; anti-BJP alliance on agenda

Banerjee, who shares a healthy relationship with Sonia, termed the meeting a "strictly personal visit". However, it was not clear whether she will also meet Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Her expected meeting with Sonia would come days after she met Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who is keen to form a federal front minus the BJP and the Congress.

However, Pawar is more likely to support an alliance formed around Congress and Mamata too is unlikely to support any scheme that keeps the Grand Old Party out of it.

“In politics, situations sometimes allow everyone to come and work together. I have faith in democracy. It is best to work along with everyone,” Mamata had said after meeting Rao.