Mamata Banerjee met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence in Delhi today for the first time since the Bengal assembly elections. The two had shared an acrimonious election campaign in which they clashed frequently.
After the meeting, she told reporters that there should be a Supreme Court-monitored inquiry into the Pegasus scandal where several opposition leaders, two union ministers, and 40 journalists were revealed as potential targets of surveillance using Israeli Pegasus spyware, a software that is sold only to governments. The allegations have virtually blocked the monsoon session of parliament with the opposition demanding answers from PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
She said she was also supposed to meet President Ram Nath Kovind. “But the problem is (that) they are asking me to have an RT-PCR done before meeting him. I have got both doses though. Where will I go here,” she said.
Ms Banerjee has been a key figure in speculation swirling around the opposition’s attempts to join forces to take on PM Modi and the BJP in the 2024 national election. Her recent election victory in Bengal has buttressed her image as an opposition face that can challenge the BJP’s might.
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