Subramanian Swamy meets 'charismatic & courageous' Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday during his visit to Kolkata. The former Rajya Sabha member called the Trinamool Congress supremo a "courageous person".

He also admired "charismatic" Mamata Banerjee's fight against the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in "which she decimated the Communist."

Sharing a picture of the meeting, Swamy tweeted, "Today I was in Kolkata and met the charismatic Mamata Banerjee. She is a courageous person. I admired her fight against the CPM in which she decimated the Communists."

The meeting has given rise to speculation of Swamy, a critic of the current BJP government at the Centre, joining Trinamool Trinamool. However, in the past, he had denied such rumours and said that there is no need for him to join the TMC as he is already with Mamata Banerjee.

Swamy had last met Banerjee during the latter's visit to the national capital in November 2021. At that time, he had put out a tweet comparing the TMC supremo with JP (Jayaprakash Narayan), Morarji Desai, Rajiv Gandhi, Chandra Shekhar, and P V Narasimha Rao, saying that she carried a "rare quality" of 'meaning what they said and saying what they meant."

'Mamata Banerjee is an intelligent leader,' says Swamy

Swamy has praised Mamata Banerjee on multiple occasions in the past. Most recently on July 1, he called her an intelligent leader. "We have to recognise talent even if we have ideological differences."

During the West Bengal Assembly elections, the senior BJP leader had conveyed his "best wishes" to Mamata after she sustained an injury in her leg during campaigning in Nandigram. 

In 2020, Swamy also supported Mamata's politics. "According to me, Mamata Banerjee is a pucca Hindu and Durga Bhakt. On a case by case basis, she will act. Her politics is different. That we will fight in the maidan."

Image: Republic World