Mumbai, Aug 30 (IANS): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee dropped in to the Bachchans for a cup of tea and also tied a ‘rakhi’ to megastar Amitabh Bachchan here on Wednesday afternoon.

The Bachchans had invited ‘Didi’ for a cuppa during her three-day visit to Mumbai to participate in the third National Opposition INDIA Conclave starting here on Thursday.

"I am very pleased… I met the ‘Bharatratna’ , Amitabh Bachchan… I tied him a ‘rakhi’... I adore this family… They are the number one family of India with a lot of contribution to the nation. I have also invited them to attend the Durga Pujo festival and the international film fest," Banerjee said after the meeting.

Banerjee enjoys a close rapport with the Bachchan family – with Jaya Bhaduri-Bachchan also a Bengali lady – and the Rakshabandhan fest made the bond even stronger.

Jaya, sporting a white churidar-kurta with a printed pink dupatta, came down and greeted Banerjee with a warm bear-hug as she alighted from her vehicle, and escorted her to the entrance of the Bachchan residence as the paparazzi clicked away furiously.

Present were the bearded Amitabh in a creamish kurta-pyjama and a scarf on his head with a greyish shawl draped on the shoulders, a grinning bespectacled Abhishek and wife Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, sister Shweta Nanda, and grand-daughters – Aaradhya Bachchan and Navya Nanda.

A relaxed looking Banerjee cheerfully greeted and smiled with all the Bachchan clan members and spent a good time at their Jalsa Bungalow at Juhu.

She fondly refers to Big Bro Bachchan as a ‘Bharatratna’ (jewel of India) and is rooting for the country’s top civilian honour for him.

Incidentally, during the 201 WB Assembly polls, Jaya Bachchan, a Samajwadi Party MP, had also campaigned for the Trinamool Congress, headed by Banerjee. Later, Banerjee left for a five-star hotel in Santacruz east where she will attend the National Opposition INDIA block meetings over the next two days.