Mamata Banerjee-Sharad Pawar dinner meet today

In what could be major step toward forging an alliance to take on the BJP-led NDA in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived here on Monday to attend a dinner hosted by NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday.

Mamata’s visit comes days after Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao flew down to Kolkata to convince her to be part of a non-BJP and non-Congress federal front.

Rao is said to be keen to forge an alliance of regional satraps to keep the Congress out of a united Opposition front. The triumvirate of Rao, Mamata and Pawar are pitching themselves as leaders who can reach out to parties across the spectrum. However, Pawar and Mamata are apparently keen to stitch an alliance around the Congress. Sources close to the TMC chief said she didn’t buy Rao’s idea to keep the Congress out of any scheme to dislodge the Modi government.

“In politics, situations sometimes allow everyone to come and work together. I have faith in democracy. It is best to work along with everyone; we have good relations with all the political parties. We will maintain that,” she had said after her meeting with the Telangana CM.