Mamata Banerjee,
the Trinamool Congress chief, met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad
Pawar on Wednesday to lay out what they called a “Template for 2024”. The West
Bengal chief minister’s meeting with the NCP chief follows her meeting with
members of the civil society including some Bollywood actors earlier in the
day.

The NCP chief tweeted
photos of the meeting with the caption: “Pleased to meet Hon’ble CM of West
Bengal Smt @MamataOfficial at my Mumbai residence. We Discussed various issues.
We agreed upon the need to strengthen the collective efforts and commitment
towards safeguarding democratic values and ensuring the betterment of our
people.”

At the meeting, Mamata
Banerjee was quoted saying, “Where is UPA? There is no UPA,” by NDTV.

The Trinamool
chief’s Mumbai visit seems to be part of her plan to give the party a national
profile ahead of the 2024 general elections. Several popular people from
various arenas from all parts of the country have joined the Trinamool over the
last few days. Mamata has made a big push to integrate members of the ‘civil
society’ in her party.

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The role of ‘civil
society’ in Mamata’s scheme of things, although seemingly being run by Prashant
Kishore, is a relatively time-tested strategy. It was a coalition of civil
society members, called the “Susheel Samaj” who helped Mamata defeat the
34-year-old Left regime in West Bengal when she came to power in 2011.

Meanwhile, Mamata seems
to have also initiated discussions about how the opposition to Prime Minister
Narendra Modi will look ahead of the 2024 polls. Before meeting the NCP chief
Wednesday, Mamata Banerjee met Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra minister Aditya
Thackeray. Aditya Thackeray is the son of Uddhav Thackeray and the grandson of
the legendary Balasaheb.

The West Bengal CM
was also scheduled to meet the Maharashtra chief minister, but her meeting with
Uddhav Thackeray did not take place because Thackeray had recently undergone a
surgery and has been advised isolation.