New Delhi, Aug 1 : After meeting a host of opposition leaders during the day, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday evening.

Banerjee invited Kejriwal for the January 19 mega rally she has planned in Kolkata.

Earlier, Mamata Banerjee met UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and leaders of several other parties and declared that her priority is to defeat BJP in the Lok Sabha elections next year, and that the issue of prime ministership would be settled collectively later.

Banerjee met leaders of various parties including Shiv Sena, AIADMK, Samajwadi Party, TDP, YSCRP, DMK, RJD, Kerala Congress-Mani. She also called on JD-S leader and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda in Karnataka Bhavan and senior BJP leader L. K. Advani in his chamber in Parliament.

While Shiv Sena is a constituent of the the BJP-led NDA, AIADMK is considered friendly towards it.

Banerjee met Congress leaders Ahmed Patel and Ghulam Nabi Azad, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, AIADMK leader M. Thambidurai, Kerala Congress-Mani leader Jose K. Mani, suspended BJP MP Kirti Azad, Shiv Sena member Sanjay Raut,'DMK's Tiruchi Siva, Vijay Sai Reddy of YSRC Party, Misa Bharti and Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav of RJD. She also met TDP MPs and Jaya Bachchan.

Former Law Minister and Congress leader Ashwani Kumar also met Banerjee.




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London, Jan 14: England pacer of Pakistani heritage, Saqib Mahmood, will miss the team's training camp in Abu Dhabi due to delay in getting his India visa for the limited overs tour beginning January 22, according to a report.

'ESPNcricinfo' reported that Mahmood is yet to receive his Indian visa, preventing him from joining the camp in Abu Dhabi as his passport is with the concerned authorities as part of the visa process.

However, he is expected to receive his visa before a batch of cricketers leave for Kolkata on Friday.

It is not the first time that cricketers of Pakistani origin have faced delays in securing an Indian visa. England spinner Shoaib Bashir missed the first Test in Hyderabad last year due to a visa delay.

Australian opener Usman Khawaja had also faced similar delays during the tour of 2023.

Having said that, other England players of Pakistani heritage in the squad, Rehan Ahmed and Adil Rashid, have received their visas, reported the website.

Mahmood has played two Tests, 9 ODIs and 18 T20s for England.

England's limited-over tour of India begins with a T20I in Kolkata on Januray 22.