Mamata yet to greet Modi

FE Team | Published: May 20, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

KOLKATA, May 19 (agencies): West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has not called Narendra Modi to congratulate him on the BJP's huge victory. Modi has also not called her, though he spoke to Tamil Nadu chief Minister Jayalalithaa late on Sunday and assured her of 'all cooperation for the development' of Tamil Nadu.
Though Jayalalithaa, whose AIADMK won the third largest number of seats in Lok Sabha after BJP and Congress, had attacked Modi and BJP during poll campaigns, she promptly called up to congratulate Modi after the BJP victory.
Jayalalithaa had however avoided personal attacks against Modi, with whom she shared a 'strong personal bond'.
Mamata however attacked Modi furiously, calling him a 'donkey', a 'butcher' and a 'rioter'.
Modi responded to Jayalalithaa with a long telephonic conversation Sunday and assured her that 'there will be no politics over development'.
Mamata's Trinamool Congress, which was the fourth largest group in Lok Sabha now, just behind AIADMK, perceives a major threat from the BJP which has dramatically increased its vote share to 17.8 per cent in this election, up from the 6.5pc in 2009.
"But it is unusual for Mamata Banerjee to forget elementary courtesy to call up Modiji to congratulate him. If she did that, Modi would have positively responded," says Bollywood playback singer Babul Supriyo, who is one of the two BJP MPs elected from West Bengal.
"Even senior Congress leaders who fought Modi fiercely have called up to congratulate him. This is minimum courtesy expected in a democracy. After denying him visa all these years, the US is trying to warm up and even Obama called up to congratulate Modiji."
Supriyo expressed concerns for West Bengal's future development if Mamata Banerjee adopted a hostile attitude towards the Union government that Modi will lead.
"I am sure Modiji will on his own come up with a financial package for West Bengal. He has said in his poll time speeches that the Left has ruined Bengal's economy and Mamata will need strong Central support to take the state out of the pit, but the chief minister should respond positively," said Supriyo. Even senior Trinamool leaders are worried.
"We should not miss the bus this time," said one, but obviously was not willing to be named. Mamata seems to be caught in a nut cracker, though.
If she warms up to Modi to seek a special financial package for Bengal, Modi might well come up with it and then in his classic media outreach run away with all the credit for it by looking magnanimous.
But that would be aimed at boosting BJP's chances in the 2015 Calcutta corporation polls and the 2016 state polls.
If Mamata stays away from Modi, he might well announce a package for West Bengal on his own to help his party take credit before the crucial polls, while on the other hand, pursue investigations like the Saradha scam which will rattle the Trinamool.
The BJP has repeatedly promised a special package for Bengal that Mamata has failed to get out of the Congress.
Now her problem is that the BJP, which has emerged as a major threat to her preponderance in Bengal , may upstage her if Modi announces a special package.
When BJP first came to power in 1999 and Atal Behari Vajpayee became Prime Minister, West Bengal's the-then chief minister Jyoti Basu had publicly attacked the BJP government as a 'government of uncivilised barbarians'.