No appointment with Nancy Powell, says Mamata

US Ambassador had met BJP prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi in Gandhinagar on February 13

On a day US ambassador to India Nancy Powell was expected to meet her, as announced in Trinamool Congress' own website earlier, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said, no such meeting was scheduled. Banerjee's denial came even though Powell was in the city today.

"I do not have any appointment with her (Powell)," Banerjee told reporters here at the state secretariat here, when asked about the meeting.

Incidentally, the official website of the Trinamool Congress had earlier claimed that Powell had sought a meeting with Banerjee, which was to be held today. Senior officials in the government, too confirmed this.

However, no one could offer an explanation why the meeting was called off, if that was the case.

Responding to a query on whether the meeting was scheduled and later called off, a spokesperson US Consulate General Kolkata said, “We have no comments to offer on this.”

Powell, who had met Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi in Gandhinagar on February 13, however, was in the city. During the day, she met Governor M K Narayanan at the Raj Bhavan.

However, after the TMC government took over in West Bengal, Powell had met Mamata Banerjee on September 2012, following US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met West Bengal chief minister in May at the Writers' Buildings.