Kolkata: In a surprise development, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief, Mamata Banerjee has decided to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 30.
The development has come as a big surprise to political observers, who believe it could be a way of extending an olive branch to the BJP after TMC’s poll debacle in the Lok Sabha elections.
“I have spoken to other Chief Ministers also. Since it is a ceremonial programme, we thought of attending it. Yes I will go,” Mamata told reporters here.
The Bengal CM’s decision also came against the backdrop of two party MLAs and 50 TMC councillors joining BJP in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Senior party leader Mukul Roy, credited for BJP’s resounding success in Bengal, has claimed that TMC will even lose the people’s mandate of becoming an opposition party leave alone forming the government in the next Assembly elections in the state in 2021.
