‘Person I treated as my brother…’: Mamata meets Suvendu over tea

Kolkata, Nov 25: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee met with the leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Friday, in a first since her former aide quit the Trinamool Congress and joined the BJP ahead of the 2021 state assembly election.

"The person I treated as my younger brother is today saying the government in Bengal has become 'of the party, by the party and for the party and what if I say the Centre has become a government of the agency, by the agency and for the agency?", said Mamata Banerjee after meeting Adhikari.

"I had a three-four minute long courtesy meeting with CM Mamata Banerjee today... Contesting from Nandigram was not a personal fight against Mamata (Banerjee) Ji, but a political and ideological fight," news agency ANI quoted Adhikari as saying.

Adhikari and Banerjee had been at loggerheads since the end of 2020 when he switched over to the BJP from the TMC and defeated the TMC supremo in Nandigram in the Assembly polls.

The meeting came close on the heels of Adhikari complaining that his name was not included in the invitation letter for the 'Constitution Day' programme in the Assembly.

The BJP leader had also said that he would "boycott" the programme.