Center refuses to allow Mamata Banerjee to attend peace conference in Italy

New Delhi: The Center has asked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to allow her to attend a peace conference in Italy in October this year. The External Affairs Ministry has refused to allow this.

The conference is expected to be attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Pope Francis and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. The event is centered around Mother Teresa. Earlier, the Italian government had requested Mamata Banerjee not to accompany the delegates.

Mamata Banerjee had sought approval for the industry delegation and requested the External Affairs Ministry for the same. However this was not allowed. TMC spokesperson Debangshu Bhattacharya wrote on Twitter that the central government had not allowed Didi to go on a trip to Rome. Earlier, they also revoked their travel permit to China. We accepted this in the light of international relations and India's interests. But why was permission to go to a country like Italy denied. What is your problem with Bengal? Thus there is clearly a political reason behind not giving approval.