Panaji: Trinamool Congress chairperson and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived here on Thursday evening on her maiden visit to Goa, a tour being seen as an attempt by her to gauge political mood in the BJP-ruled state ahead of the Assembly polls slated in early 2022.
Banerjee, who is on a three-day tour of the coastal state, arrived at the Dabolim airport around 5.30 pm where she was received by TMC MP Derek O’Brien and local leaders.
A senior leader said the West Bengal Chief Minister will hold a meeting with leaders of the TMC’s Goa unit in Panaji on Friday morning.
Banerjee will later visit a local market and also interact with members of the public, he said.
In the evening, the Trinamool Congress head will visit Mangueshi and Mahalsa Temples, located around 30km from Panaji, he said.
On Friday evening, she will interact with community representatives, the senior TMC leader said.
On October 30, Banerjee is scheduled to hold a press conference followed by a visit to Basilica of Bom Jesus at Old Goa and Bodgeshwar Temple at Mapusa.
As per her schedule, she will interact with vegetable and flower vendors at a market in Mapusa, 9km from the state capital, on Saturday.
Elections to the 40-member Goa assembly will be held early next year.
The Trinamool Congress, after its stunning victory in the West Bengal assembly elections earlier this year, is trying to increase its footprint nationally and has made inroads in BJP-ruled Goa and Tripura.
Former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro ended his decades-long association with the Congress and joined the TMC last month.