West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah and raised the issue of NRC on Thursday. "He (Shah) did not say anything about NRC in West Bengal. I have already clarified my stand that NRC is not needed in West Bengal," Banerjee told reporters after the meeting.
"I handed over a letter to him (Shah), told him that of the 19 lakh people left out of NRC (in Assam), many are Hindi speaking, Bengali speaking and local Assamese. Many genuine voters have been left out. This should be looked into. I submitted an official letter," she further said.
The Trinamool Congress chief arrived at Shah's office at North Block for the meeting. She met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday and raised the issue of renaming the state. Banerjee also invited the prime minister to inaugurate a coal block in the state in the coming days.
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The West Bengal chief minister is on a three-day visit to the national capital. Banerjee's meeting comes at a time when the CBI is on a look out for her aide and former top cop Rajeev Kumar, who is under lens for protecting certain politicians in the Sarada scam and Rose Valley chit fund scams. The Saradha group of companies allegedly duped lakhs of people of Rs 2,500 crore, promising higher rates of return on their investments.
After her meeting with the PM, West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh told reporters in Bengal on Wednesday that he was happy that Banerjee's "good sense" had prevailed that she met the prime minister. "But I think it's too late. Her attempts to save herself and her party from CBI will not yield any results," he said.
Assembly polls in Bengal are due in April-May 2021.
(With PTI inputs)