West Bengal Chief Minister, who reached Delhi yesterday on a five-day visit, will be meeting several political leaders today including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is Banerjee’s first visit to the national capital after her decisive win against the BJP in the recently held Bengal polls.

Apart from PM Modi, Banerjee will meet three senior Congress leaders today. She will first meet former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath at 2 pm, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma at 3 pm, then PM Modi at 4 pm and Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi at 6.30 pm.

While her meeting with PM Modi is being described as a courtesy call, she is expected to raise several issues including disbursal of state funds and ramping up of COVID-19 vaccines. This is the first time since the Bengal election that the two leaders will meet face to face.

She is also expected to meet Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on July 28. According to reports, Banerjee will also meet Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Yesterday, she first met journalist Vineet Narain who has written a book on the Jain Hawala scam in 1996. Banerjee had recently alleged that West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was involved in the scam, a claim denied by the governor.

Banerjee had expressed the desire to meet all political party leaders during her visit. She had also called upon the opposition parties to hold a meeting of all opposition leaders during her visit to Delhi. While virtually addressing Shahid Dibas on July 21, Banerjee had called upon opposition parties to unite to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Last week, Banerjee was named leader of the Trinamool Parliamentary party, which signifies that she is gearing up for a national role. Banerjee is neither an MLA nor an MP at present.

According to reports, Banerjee may also visit Parliament where the monsoon session is underway and has been marred by frequent disruptions over the Pegasus spying row. Banerjee’s nephew and Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee is among those allegedly targeted by the spyware.

The Bengal CM had announced a judicial inquiry headed by former judges to investigate the Pegasus case.