Sky wouldn't fall if Mamata Banerjee didn't attend G20 dinner: Adhir Chowdhury

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Choudhury on Sunday questioned West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision to attend the G20 dinner hosted by President Droupadi Murmu in New Delhi. Chowdhury, who is state Congress president in West Bengal, objected to her attendance at the event reasoning that it would weaken Mamata's stance against the Narendra Modi government.

"Nothing would have happened if she hadn't attended the dinner. The sky would not fall. Mahabharata would not have become impure. The Kuran would not have been impure," Adhir Chowdhury said.

The state Congress president also wondered whether there was “any other reason” for the Trinamool Congress supremo to take part in the programme.

"At the dinner table, the Chief Minister of Bengal was beside Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath and Union Home Minister Amit Shah!" Adhir Chowdhury pointed out.

Banerjee went to Delhi on Friday, while the dinner party was held the next day. Her flight was scheduled for Saturday, but it was rescheduled to Friday afternoon owing to regulations of flight operations in and around Delhi, PTI reported.

Adhir Chowdhury also said that several non-BJP Chief Ministers refrained from partaking at the dinner event but Mamata Banerjee "hurriedly reached Delhi".

"Many Chief ministers of the country have boycotted the dinner invitation. The Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament, Mallikarjun Kharge, has not been invited to the dinner. What kind of attraction it was, that she reached Delhi earlier," he said.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen took note of Adhir's remarks and hit back saying that Chowdhury should not lecture her about certain protocols to be followed from the administrative point of view.

"Choudhury will not decide when the chief minister of the state will go to attend a dinner on the occasion of G20 as part of the protocol," Sen said.

Sen further said that everyone was aware that Mamata Banerjee is one of the architects of the Opposition's INDIA bloc and none can question her commitment.

Bihar's Nitish Kumar, Jharkhand's Hemant Soren, and West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee were among the state leaders from opposition parties who attended the gala event. Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, Rajasthan's Ashok Gehlot, Odisha's Naveen Patnaik and Delhi's Arvind Kejriwal were among the leaders from opposition parties who gave the event a miss.