Kumaraswamy to meet Mamata Banerjee on Friday

JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy will meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee here on Friday, a week after her meeting with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, TMC sources said on Wednesday. The meeting will be held at Banerjee's residence in Bhawanipore at 4 PM on Friday, he said.

Kumaraswamy will come to the city on March 24 (Friday) to meet Banerjee, who is also the TMC supremo, a senior leader of the party said. "The two leaders will discuss the present political situation in the country and the way forward to fight and defeat BJP in 2024 (general election),” he said on condition of anonymity.

According to TMC leaders, the meetings with non-Congress, non-BJP leaders are part of the party's efforts to cobble up an “opposition unity with regional powers”.

Kumaraswamy attended the meeting of opposition parties convened by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the city in January 2019 ahead of the Lok Sabha poll that year. Friday's meeting with him is likely to be Banerjee's third meeting with a non-BJP, non-Congress party leader within a week.

On Thursday, Banerjee, presently in Odisha, is likely to meet Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik before returning to the eastern metropolis.

After the meeting between Yadav and Banerjee last week, the SP and TMC said the two parties will maintain equal distance from BJP and the Congress and reach out to regional parties ahead of the polls.