Ms Mamata Banerjee will be happy if Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee attends her swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan, a Trinamul Congress MLA said on Wednesday. Ms Banerjee will take oath as the new chief minister at 1.01 pm on Friday.
The oath-taking ceremony is expected to be witnessed by around 3,500 invited dignitaries, including celebrities, bureaucrats and political leaders among others. However, Mr Ratan Tata’s name is not there in the list of invitees, prepared by the state administration in consultation with the Trinamul Congress. The list consists the names of 57 other industrialists.
“We will invite all former chief ministers and former governors of the state and Union home minister P. Chidambaram. We will be very happy if Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee attends the programme. In addition, we will invite former Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim and former deputy Speaker Bhaktipada Ghosh too,” Trinamul Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee said.
However, CPI(M) sources did not confirm whether Mr Bhattacharjee would attend the programme or not.
The swearing-in ceremony is expected to draw a large number of people.
The state administration has already printed around 3,500 invitation cards for distribution, of which the Trinamul Congress has collected 1,000 cards for their guests.
“We have made a sitting arrangement for 3,200 persons at Raj Bhavan. However, there is a strong possibility that the invitees will be present in more number. We may have to print another 500 invitation cards to meet the revised requisition from the Trinamul Congress,” a senior state government official said.
Giant screens will also be installed in the city for the live telecast of swearing-in ceremony. Meanwhile, state chief secretary Samar Ghosh on Wednesday called on Ms Banerjee at her Kalighat residence.