Set to take over as Chief Minister of West Bengal on Friday, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee on Monday said she’d invited the Congress party to join her government.
On her first visit here after a landslide win in the state assembly polls on Friday, the 56-year-old leader met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and PM Manmohan Singh and invited them to attend the swearing-in ceremony in Kolkata.
Emerging from the meetings, Banerjee said she had invited the Congress to be part of the Trinamool-led government in Bengal. Asked whether the Congress had agreed, she said, “Congress will be part of the government. I have invited them and they will let me know.”
Earlier, after meeting Gandhi, she said it was for the PM to take a call on the issue of her replacement in the Union cabinet.
She refused to comment when queried whether she was seeking more cabinet berths for her party at the Centre.
Banerjee said while Sonia Gandhi said she would let her know if she’d attend the oath-taking ceremony, the PM said he would not be able to because of a scheduled foreign tour. Singh will visit Kolkata after coming back from the trip, Banerjee said.
