Mamata meets PM, wants BSF’s extended jurisdiction revoked

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday and demanded the rolling back of the Centre’s decision to extend BSF’s jurisdiction in the state. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo also discussed several issues related to West Bengal.

“I met Prime Minister Narendra Modi today over a number of state-related issues. We also spoke on the BSF’s jurisdiction extension issue and demanded that this decision be withdrawn,” Banerjee told reporters in Delhi. Earlier on Wednesday, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy met Banerjee.

Mamata Banerjee is slated to be in the national capital till 25 November. Her visit comes days ahead of the winter session of Parliament which is scheduled to begin on 29 November. On Tuesday, former Congress leader Kirti Azad and, former JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP Pavan Varma joined TMC in the presence of Mamata Banerjee in the national capital.

The Centre had earlier in October empowered the Border Security Force (BSF) to conduct searches, arrest suspects and make seizures up to an area of 50 km inside Indian territory from the International Border (IB) along India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders. The BSF, which was only empowered to take action up to 15 kilometres in the states of Punjab, West Bengal, and Assam, has now been authorised to extend its jurisdiction up to 50 km without any hurdle or permission either from central or state governments.

Mamata Banerjee will visit Mumbai on 30 November and meet her Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar. “I will meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar Ji during my visit to Mumbai between 30 November and 1 December,” Banerjee told reporters. Notably, the TMC supremo has been holding talks to unite all Opposition parties against the Bharatiya Janta Party keeping the 2024 general elections in mind.

Asked about the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Banerjee said, “If Akhilesh (Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav) needs our help, then we are ready to extend help.”