Central govt not stable, may not last long: Mamata Banerjee

Mumbai, July 12: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee voiced concerns over the “stability” of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA 3.0 at the Centre and hinted that it may not last long in power, here on Friday.

“This (Central) government is not stable… is not strong. It may not continue also …My best wishes to them,” the Chief Minister said in a brief media interaction.

To a query, the Chief Minister said that during the last Lok Sabha elections, in one particular constituency in the city (Mumbai North West), the winning margin was only 48 votes.

“They have done like this in many other areas… otherwise this time (2024) they would not have come (to office), I am sure of that…” the Chief Minister said.

She was speaking after meeting Shiv Sena (UBT) President and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, his wife Rashmi and their sons Aditya and Tejas, at their Bandra home ‘Matoshri’.

Thackeray, who described her as ‘my sister’, said this was a family visit and urged the media to keep politics out of it, but promised “we shall hold a separate press conference on all this.”

This was Mamata Banerjee’s first meeting with Thackeray after the Lok Sabha elections, and she is slated to call on Nationalist Congress Party (SP) President Sharad Pawar later this evening.

She is also likely to meet Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav and other leaders who are expected to attend the wedding of the Ambani family tonight.

Mamata Banerjee is known to enjoy a close personal rapport with Pawar Sr. and Thackeray and makes it a point to meet them whenever she visits Maharashtra.