West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah here in the Eastern Zonal Council (EZC) meeting on Friday (February 28).
The EZC meeting is likely to play a vital role for a truce between Banerjee’s TMC and Shah’s BJP. Banerjee would meet Shah in the EZC meeting for the first time after the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was enacted.
It is not known whether the two leaders would have a one-to-one meeting in the backdrop of the violence in Delhi over the CAA, NRC and NPR. Banerjee has been a bitter critic of the CAA, NPR and NRC. She did not attend the recent Niti Aayog meetings. But now, she has decided to take part the EZC meeting to be chaired by Shah which has led to speculations in political circles.
Banerjee arrival at the airport here on Tuesday evening and was welcomed by Odisha Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha on behalf of the State Government.
Benerjee said she would meet her Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik on Thursday.
On Wednesday afternoon, Mamata Banerjee along with her family members visited the Jagannath Temple in Puri and offered prayers to the deities. She spent about half an hour at the shrine. She was earlier received by the Puri district Collector and other officials.
Chief Ministers of Bihar and Jharkhand, Nitish Kumar and Hemant Soren, respectively, are also scheduled to attend the EZC meeting. Nitish Kumar was scheduled to arrive in Bhubaneswar later on Wednesday.