Mamata in Mumbai to meet ‘friends,’ drum up business support for state

Mumbai: West Bengal chief minister and Trinmool Congress president Mamata Banerjee, who arrived in the city on a trip to promote investment in her state, may pay a courtesy visit to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s residence on Thursday.

Ms Banerjee is in the city to invite city-based business tycoons to attend the West Bengal government’s ambitious Global Business Summit in January, the third year of its being. The Bengal government is organising the summit in the hope of inviting international and domestic investment in the state. According to the buzz, through these big business summits, Ms Banerjee is trying to project herself as a business friendly politician.. 

Ms Banerjee reached Mumbai on Tuesday evening and directly went to meet business tycoon and reliance industries chairman Mukesh Ambani. On Wednesday, she addressed the Young President’s Organisation (YPO) seminar. 

According to reports, after her Mumbai visit, the West Bengal chief minister is likely to plan a trip to London as she wants to targets the world markets as well. She will hold a road show in parts of London. 

During her current trip to lure businesses and investors to West Bengal, Ms Banerjee is also expected to squeeze out time for some political meetings, according to buzz. She is expected to meet Mr Thackeray, who has praised many times in the past. 

Ms Banerjee is a  known critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and one of the strongest opposition voices in the country. Though Mr Thackeray’s Sena is part of PM Modi’s campaign, he keeps on targeting the union government as well as the BJP each passing day. Seen in this context, the meetign between the two leaders may again kickstart the discussion of regional satraps coming together.