New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani on Monday morning.
Banerjee had not been able to meet Advani since the death of his wife Kamla Advani last year. “It was a courtesy call. They discussed health of ailing leaders like Atal Behari Vajpayee and Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi… Advani got emotional talking about his former colleagues,” said a source close to Advani.
Banerjee’s meeting with Advani came hours before senior NDA leaders’ meeting at a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday ahead of the presidential election in July this year. Some NDA leaders hinted that the dinner diplomacy is the first step towards consensus building for the election of the president.
While Advani told reporters last week that he was not in the Presidential race, he has friends and well-wishers across the political spectrum.
In an interview to a Bangla TV channel in March, Banerjee had reportedly said that she would not mind if someone senior like Advani, Sushma Swaraj or Sumitra Mahajan became the President. She had also said that it was “too early” to discuss the name of the next President.
However, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien had later said that Mamata’s comments were “spiced up in translation”.
Comments
0 comment