Mamata Banerjee to travel to Dhaka, London and possibly Paris

Notwithstanding her pre-engagement with the assembly elections in West Bengal, railway minister Mamata Banerjee will keep her date with Cambridge University this October in her European sojourn, which could also include a trip to the French capital.

But before that she will pay a short visit to Dhaka to be part of Rabindranath Tagore's 150th birth anniversary celebration. The Minister is expected to cross the border on a train called 'Sonar Tari' (golden boat) on August 7, as her first trip to a foreign country as the railway minister.

A cultural troupe is likely to accompany Mamata.

Sonar Tari is one of Tagore's famous poems. 

Cambridge University has also extended an invitation to Banerjee to deliver a series of lectures on Indian politics and her struggle in the political milieu.

Sources said the date for her England trip has not yet been finalised though they indicated that it could be somewhere between September or October.

French railways, which are interested in investing high-speed rail projects in India, are also keen to invite her to Paris to showcase their achievement in the railway sector.

France runs the high-speed TGV trains which clocks more
than 400 km per hour.

Sources, however, said the invitation from French railways is yet to be received. Once it comes, the London and Paris trips could be tagged together.