2019 polls to be “very interesting” says Mamata; meets Pawar, Shiv Sena, Opposition MPs 

West Bengal Chief Minister and All India Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday met leaders from several opposition parties in the national capital.

Banerjee visited Parliament, where she met Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar. She also met Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MP K Kavitha, daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, and Misa Bharti, Rashtriya Janata Dal MP and daughter of Lalu Prasad Yadav. Incidentally Shiv Sena is an ally of the BJP and a constituent of the ruling BJP-led NDA.

“When political people meet then of course they will discuss politics, there is nothing to hide in that. The Lok Sabha election of 2019 will certainly be very interesting” Banerjee told media after meeting the leaders.

Banerjee said she would meet UPA Chairperson and former Congress President Sonia Gandhi after the latter, who is unwell, recovers. Banerjee added that she would meet BJP leaders Shatrughan Sinha, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie on Wednesday.

When asked if she would be meeting with Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Banerjee said she certainly would if they called her for a meeting to Lucknow.

The meetings come at a time when Opposition parties as well as former NDA ally Telugu Desam Party have moved four no-confidence motions in the Lok Sabha against the Modi government. Banerjee is seen as a key player in a possible grouping of non-BJP political parties ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections.

With IANS inputs.