Mamata meets Advani, opposition leaders in Parliament

West Bengal Chief Minster Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday held meetings with leaders of opposition parties as part of her political outreach ahead of the Lok Sabha elections aimed at ousting the Modi government and also met senior BJP leader L.K. Advani.

Banerjee, who came to the Parliament House complex, met Congress leaders Ahmed Patel and Ghulam Nabi Azad, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, AIADMK leader M. Thambidurai, Kerala Congress-Mani leader Jose K. Mani and suspended BJP MP Kirti Azad.

The AIADMK is friendly with the Modi government. Banerjee, who visited the Central Hall of Parliament, also met TDP MPs.

Former Law Minister and Congress leader Ashwani Kumar also met Banerjee.

Banerjee met Advani, who is a member of the BJP's Margdarshak Mandal and has been virtually sidelined in the party's affairs.

Banerjee arrived in Delhi on Monday and met Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday. She also met dissident BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha and former union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Ram Jethmalani.

The Trinamool Congress leader is in Delhi to personally invite opposition leaders for her January 19 mega rally in Kolkota.

The Kolkata rally is expected to help Banerjee emerge as a the pivot of opposition efforts to dislodge the Narendra Modi government.

--IANS

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