Mamata Banerjee to attend Ram Nath Kovind’s oath-taking

Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will be tarvelling to Delhi on Monday to attend the oath taking ceremony of the newly-elected President of India Ram Nath Kovind that is scehduled for Tuesday, July 25. Ms Banerjee, who had attributed her party’s support for Opposition Presidential nominee Meira Kumar as a mark of protest against BJP’s “atrocities”, was prompt enough to congratulate Mr Kovind through her twitter handle when he won the Presidential elections. “We as a party respect the democratic principles on which the country is based. So our supremo has decided to attend Mr Kovind’s oath taking programme on Tuesday,” a Trinamul Congress MP said.

The programme, organised by the state information and cultural affairs department to pay homage to famous actor Uttam Kumar, has been rescheduled at 3 pm instead of 5 pm on Monday as the chief minister will be leaving g after attending the programme at Nazrul Manch. Ms Banerjee’s attending the ceremony is significant as she had hit out at the Centre on numerous occasions. Adressing the Martyr’s Day rally at Esplanade on Friday, Ms Banerjee called for a national alliance before the Lok Sabha elections to oust BJP from power and offered to back any party opposed to the BJP.