BJP's newly elected MP from West Bengal's Barrackpore, Arjun Singh, on Wednesday said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony to save her nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
"She (Mamata Banerjee) is going only to please (Narendra Modi) and to try and save her nephew", he said while speaking to ANI in North Barrackpur.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose bitter war of words with Modi was at the centre of Lok Sabha election campaign, was invited to attend his swearing-in ceremony on Thursday, which she has accepted.
"I have spoken to other Chief Ministers also. Since it is a ceremonial program, we thought of attending it. Yes, I will go," she told media here on Tuesday.
Modi will be sworn in for a second term as the prime minister on Thursday at 7 pm in Rashtrapati Bhavan, along with his Council of Ministers.
The two leaders were at loggerheads at more than one occasions during the campaign period in the run-up to the elections.
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Mamata's nephew Abhishek Banerjee was often accused of being involved in corruption by the BJP.
"Didi, your party is raking in money through tolabazi (extortion). Why don't you follow the law? Why did bhatija (nephew) encroach roads? Old habits die hard, the habit of loot does not go away," Modi had said at a rally in West Bengal.
Similarly, BJP president Amit Shah had also Abhishek Banerjee of corruption. He, however, managed to retain his Diamond Harbour seat in the recently-concluded polls.
Abhishek Banerjee had also sent a defamation notice to Prime Minister Modi for his remarks.
BJP managed to make deep inroads into the Trinamool territory in West Bengal by winning 18 Lok Sabha seats out of 42. The TMC's victory was reduced from 34 in 2014 to 22 in 2019.