Panaji: Actress Nafisa Ali joined Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Goa in the presence of party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The TMC is trying to make inroads into Goa in the 2022 assembly polls.
Mamata Banerjee arrived in Goa on Thursday evening on her maiden visit to the poll-bound state, a tour being seen as an attempt by her to gauge the political mood in the BJP-ruled state ahead of the polls. Banerjee, who is on a three-day tour of the coastal state, arrived at the Dabolim airport around 5.30 pm where she was received by TMC MP Derek O’Brien and local leaders.
On Friday evening, she will interact with community representatives, a senior TMC leader said. On October 30, Banerjee is scheduled to hold a press conference followed by a visit to Basilica of Bom Jesus at Old Goa and Bodgeshwar Temple at Mapusa.
As per her schedule, she will interact with vegetable and flower vendors at a market in Mapusa, 9 km from the state capital, on Saturday. The Trinamool Congress, after its stunning victory in the West Bengal assembly elections earlier this year, is trying to increase its footprint nationally and has made inroads in BJP-ruled Goa and Tripura.
The Trinamool Congress, after its stunning victory in the West Bengal assembly elections earlier this year, is trying to increase its footprint nationally and has made inroads in BJP-ruled Goa and Tripura.
Mamata’s visit to Goa
Harping that “fish and football” were the two things that connect Bengal and Goa, Mamata Banerjee said she would not allow the Centre’s “dadagiri” to happen in the state. The West Bengal Chief Minister, however, said neither she was in the state to capture power nor to become the chief minister of Goa.
“Delhichi dadagiri anik naka (No more bullying from Delhi). I am not an outsider, I don’t want to be the CM of Goa,” Mamata Banerjee said in Konkani in her first address in Panaji.
“I am an Indian, I can go anywhere. If Bengal is my motherland, Goa is also my motherland…I come to Goa, they deface my posters. They (BJP) have mental pollution. They showed me black flags, I said namaste,” Mamata Banerjee said.
Several hoardings carrying pictures of Mamata Banerjee were defaced in Goa ahead of her visit, leading to sharp exchanges between the BJP and TMC.
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