Trinamul demands Centre scrap ‘adoption’ of Red Fort

New Delhi: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday attended a meeting called by the national committee, headed by the Prime Minister, to discuss Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary celebrations. Ms Banerjee was in fact the only other CM from a non-NDA state apart from Odisha chief minister Biju Patnaik who attended the meeting.

The West Bengal chief minister’s decision to attend the meeting has raised eyebrows as this is the first Central meeting since the 2015 meeting of the Niti Ayog which she has attended. Ms Banerjee had not even allowed bureaucrats of her state to attend some meetings of the Central government over differences with the BJP-led government at the Centre.

The decision to attend Wednesday’s meeting comes in the backdrop of the Trinamul Congress’ decision not to sign on the impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra which was initiated by Opposition Congress.

However, the party demanded that the government immediately scrap plans of letting a private company “adopt” the iconic Red Fort.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien refuted reports that the parliamentary standing committee on tourism, that he heads, approved the tourism ministry’s proposal to go ahead with a “corporate adoption” of the Red Fort.