West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be travelling to New Delhi on Saturday for the President's G20 dinner, officials said on Wednesday. Banerjee will be flying to the national capital at the invitation of President Droupadi Murmu, they said.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, with whom Banerjee shares a cordial relationship, is also likely to be present at the event, the officials said. Banerjee, alluding to the controversy over a G20 dinner invite in the name of 'President of Bharat', had on Tuesday asserted that it's well known that India is Bharat.
"I heard that India's name is being changed. The G20 invite that went out in the name of the honourable president has Bharat written on it. In English, we say India and the Indian Constitution. In Hindi, we say 'Bharat ka Samvidhan'. We all say Bharat, what is new in this?
"The world knows us as India. What happened suddenly that the name of the country needs to be changed?" she said, addressing a function on Teacher's Day.
The G20 Summit is being held in Delhi on September 9 and September 10 under India's presidency and several heads of state from across the world, including US President Joe Biden, are attending the event. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had recently shared on X a G20 dinner invitation from President Murmu, which described her position as "President of Bharat". PTI