She was also supposed to be joined on stage by Trinamool Congress MP Dibyendu Adhikari, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Dibyendu Adhikari is the brother of Suvendu Adhikari, former Trinamool Minister and strongman, who defected to the BJP in December 2020, after a prolonged fall out with the TMC leadership. Dibyendu is reportedly in talks with the BJP and may also jump ship soon, along with his father, another tall TMC leader, Sisir Adhikari. Suvendu’s other brother, Soumendu, joined the BJP with 14 Trinamool councillors, in January.
Sources say that Banerjee has responded to an invitation by the PMO with her decision to stay away from the event citing unavailability at the time.
About two weeks ago, on 23 January, the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister had shared a stage at Kolkata’s Victoria Memorial at a Union government-organised event to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
At the event, Banerjee, who was scheduled to…