New Delhi, Aug 14 (IANS) Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has a way with play of words and can be extremely witty when he chooses to, just as he can turn sarcastic immediately thereafter.
Ahead of his visit to Kolkata Saturday to meet Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, the finance minister brushed aside suggestions that the leadership in New Delhi sought to seek explanations on her remarks at a rally in the Maoist stronghold of Lalgarh.
‘I am not going with a red card, green card or a yellow card. Whatever is being reported is an absolute figment of imagination,’ said the veteran Congress leader here, as he was leaving for Kolkata where Banerjee is convalescing from an illness.
‘I am going to meet her because she is unwell. There is no political agenda,’ he said, and shot back at the reporters: ‘Ahead of my meeting, how do you know what I am going to discuss?’
At the Lalgarh rally Monday, Banerjee had slammed the killing of the Maoist spokesperson Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad in a shootout in Andhra Pradesh July 2, and even suggested that it was a staged shootout.
The Left accused Banerjee of ‘political collaboration’ with Maoists at the rally.
On her way back from Lalgarh, the railway minister escaped injuries when a truck intruded into her convoy. She subsequently took ill and was advised rest. The West Bengal government also ordered a probe into the incident.
