Chief minister Mamata Banerjee inspected the site where the proposed guest house, to be run by the West Bengal government, will come up in Puri.
She was accompanied by the district magistrate of Puri and other senior officials of the Odisha government. West Bengal power minister Aroop Biswas accompanied Miss Banerjee and inspected the site.
Miss Banerjee said as Puri was a very popular destination for the people of West Bengal and the state government felt that it should set up a guest house where people from the state could stay.
“Many people from our state come during Rath Yatra and Ulta Rath, Snan Yatra and they come for holidaying. So, we thought that we should have our own accommodation.”
The proposed site is situated in New Puri. Miss Banerjee said she would meet the chief minister of Odisha Navin Patnaik tomorrow and discuss the land. “I do not know how much land he would allot for us. Once we get the land a DPR will be prepared followed by the building plan. It is a long process,” she maintained.
Miss Banerjee visited Jagannath Temple and offered her prayers. She is a devout follower of Sri Jagannath and every year a special puja is conducted in her house in Kalighat.
Miss Banerjee described tomorrow’s meeting with Mr Patnaik as “courtesy call.” She said, “Hockey tournament was held in Odisha some months ago when Navinji had called up one of our ministers. I told him that I would meet him during my next visit to Puri,” she remarked.
Political experts said Miss Banerjee is getting in touch with the leaders of opposition parties. She met Akhilesh Yadav, president of Samajwadi Party last week. She is likely to meet a leader from Karnataka next Friday and is likely to visit New Delhi in the first week of April. On 29-30 March she will take part in a two day dharna in Kolkata as the chief minister to protest against the financial deprivation by the Centre. “She is gearing up to go all out against the BJP and is organizing the opposition parties before the 2024 Lok Sabha election,” political experts said.