Mamata Banerjee's Goa tour begins

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left for poll-bound Goa on Thursday after wrapping up her five-day visit to north Bengal.

Banerjee interacted with local children and tourists in Kurseong area, during the day, before leaving for Bagdogra airport in Siliguri.

"I am coming from Kurseong, going to Goa. I will be there for three days. I am looking forward to my visit to Goa," she told reporters at the airport.

Earlier in the day, the CM had said that she met people across cross-sections in the Hills, including tea garden workers and children.

She attended administrative review meetings and public functions during the five-day trip.

Her visit to Goa comes months ahead of the assembly elections in the state. Reacting to Banerjee's visit to the western state, Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumder said she can certainly go there as a tourist and enjoy the landscape, but she must "give up her ambition to unsettle the BJP".

"She will also get to realise that the BJP, unlike her party, gives space to opposition parties and not subject their leaders to assaults. Hundreds of our activists have died in attacks perpetrated by TMC men, under her rule,” Majumder maintained.

Veteran TMC MP



Sougata Roy, however, claimed that people in Goa are fed up with the "misrule" of the BJP Government, and appreciated the fight put up by Mamata Banerjee against the saffron party.       

"During her three day visit, Banerjee will meet and interact with intellectuals, thinkers, professionals and others," a TMC spokesperson had earlier said, refusing to divulge further details.        

Banerjee's posters and hoardings were on Tuesday found torn and defaced in Goa.

The TMC had on October 5 released a "chargesheet" against the incumbent BJP Government in Goa and its predecessors.

The TMC "charge sheet" claimed Goa was the eighth worst among all states in India in terms of unemployment, and its economy was in such a precarious condition that the average citizen can't buy a house in the state. Last week, Banerjee, while announcing her visit to Goa, urged all opposition parties to join her and defeat the ruling BJP.

"As I prepare for my maiden visit to Goa on 28th, I call upon all individuals, organizations and political parties to join  forces to defeat the BJP and their divisive agenda. The people of  Goa have suffered enough over the last 10 years," she had tweeted.