Calcutta, Aug. 27: Mamata Banerjee has a chance to prove she can do in 124 days what Narendra Modi and Anandiben Patel take all of 728 days to accomplish.

The Bengal government has decided to let an industry meet piggyback on the Biswa Banga Sammelan, a cultural jamboree, on January 7 and 8, next year. The contours of the industry event are still not clear but some feel it may be Bengal Leads, which was not held this year after the flop shows in the first two years, or its new avatar.

Willy-nilly, January is also a month favoured by the Gujarat government to host Vibrant Gujarat, the biennial show Modi had launched in 2003 as the state’s chief minister.

Following this coincidence, the culture-powered industry event will find itself being compared with Vibrant Gujarat a few days later on January 11 when the western Indian show is scheduled to get off the ground.

A measure of what Mamata is up against: the Bengal chief minister today met at Nabanna some industrialists who accompanied her to Singapore and reportedly expressed a desire to constitute an industry core committee that will drive the Biswa Banga Sammelan.

It was decided that since some prominent industrialists could not attend today’s confabulations, another would be held on September 5, presumably the Day Zero for beginning preparations for the Sammelan in January. That means 124 days, including the intervening holidays.

Cut to New Delhi: Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel showcased a curtain-raiser for Vibrant Gujarat 2015 in the national capital today.

Modi will flag off the seventh edition of Vibrant Gujarat, which will have Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa and Singapore as partner countries.

The preparations for this edition of Vibrant Gujarat started immediately after the 2013 show got over. The official website — www.vibrantgujarat.com — has details ranging from events to focus sectors to hotels.

The organisers of Vibrant Gujarat have already extended invitations to 1,000 industrialists, diplomats, captains of industry and other states to partner and participate in the summit.

Asked about the proposed event in Calcutta, an official said: “All we know is that the first day will be a cultural affair with various dance programmes and focus on handicrafts…. The second day will be like an industry meet.”

But not to forget what Sanjay Budhia, the managing director of the Patton Group of Companies, is pinning hopes on: “The (Bengal) CM is in mission mode now. She has set both deadlines and datelines…. The mood is very positive.”