Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, was in Chennai on Thursday for a family event of West Bengal Governor La Ganesan, along with Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin. K Annamalai, the head of the Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party, was also invited to the event by La Ganesan but he chose not to attend.
Ganesan, the Governor of Manipur, is also the Governor of West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, MK Stalin, Tamilisai, the governor of Telangana, Rajinikanth, and BJP officials were present. The CMs and other guests celebrated the 80th birthday of Ganesan’s brother Gopalan alongside superstar Rajinikanth.
Because L. Ganesan was a former BJP leader, there were many BJP politicians in attendance. Concerns were raised in the meanwhile by the absence of the Tamil Nadu BJP President Annamalai and Governor RN Ravi.
When reporters questioned Annamalai about this, he said that he didn’t attend the event because Mamata Banerjee was present. Annamalai said that he was cordially invited by Ganesan to participate in the function at his house. “I said I’d be there. They went to the temple and I planned to go to their home later that evening. But, because Mamata Banerjee was going to that occasion, there was also the thought of not going. Mamata Banerjee has mistreated BJP workers in West Bengal.”
“I’ll go to Mr Ganesan’s residence today or tomorrow to receive blessings. Mr Ganesan’s brother knows me personally” he went on to say. Annamalai implied that he did not attend the event because Mamata Banerjee was also present there and because she has ill-treated the party workers in West Bengal. The post-poll violence in West Bengal and brutal killings of BJP workers have been documented by OpIndia.
Mamata was sighted outside the venue delighting in the Chenda melam (traditional percussion instrument) performance and interacting with the artists on Wednesday after flying down from Kolkata and visiting Stalin at his home.