Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s visit to Nepal to address a Nepali Congress convention was cancelled today as she did not get the required clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs.
The 14th Nepali Congress convention is from 10 to 12 December at Kathmandu and Miss Banerjee was invited to attend the inaugural session today. Soon after receiving the invitation, the Chief Minister’s Office sent a formal letter to the Centre seeking necessary permission to attend the convention. However, no permission was received from the Ministry nor any specific reason was given to Miss Banerjee.
According to sources, although Miss Banerjee was invited as the chief minister instead of the Trinamul Congress supremo, the Ministry is against the visit as it is a political party’s programme. “It is our firm belief that your gracious presence will encourage us to work together in the strengthening of democracy in our region and beyond and reinforce our party-to-party relations,” the invitation signed by Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba had read.
Prior to this, her eightday China trip and her visit to Rome to attend the world peace conference had also been cancelled as the Centre had not given permission for those trips. Condemning the Centre’s move, Trinamul Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that the manner in which the Centre has been denying permission to Miss Banerjee for her foreign trips is a sign of the failure and jealousy of the BJP-backed Central government. This is nothing less than vindictive politics, Mr Ghosh alleged.
Senior BJP leader Jay Prakash Majumdar refuted the allegation saying the Ministry must have reasons for denying permission and it is wrong to politicise the issue unnecessarily. Meanwhile, Miss Banerjee will go to Darjeeling on 27 December to attend administrative review meetings and a few political programmes. The issue of GTA development is likely to be taken up at the meeting, said a source.