Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to attend the Eastern Zonal Council meeting on February 28, on internal security to be chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at Bhubaneshwar, State Government sources said.
The meeting will be attended by all the Chief Ministers of the eastern states.
Sources at State secretariat Nabanna said that the Chief Minister has been invited by the Union Home Ministry on February 28. “There will be a EZC meeting on internal security where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been invited,” sources said adding “the Chief Minister is likely to attend the meeting.”
Sources also said that if the Chief Minister got preoccupied in other engagements then State Finance Minister Amit Mitra could be sent to attend the meeting.
Apart from Banerjee Chief Ministers of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Sikkim have also been invited and all the Chief Ministers are likely to remain present in the meeting.
With Banerjee taking the centre stage in her consistent anti-Narendra Modi and anti-BJP campaigns galvanizing the other parties in one place with particular reference to the ongoing struggle against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register for Citizens (NRC) all eyes are likely to be on the outcome of the Bhbaneshwar summit.
While the top TMC leaders refused to make open comment on any likelihood of Mamata-Shah parley in the sidelines of the main meeting critics said the Chief Minister might hold talks with Shah on a number of issues like the State’s financial dues.
“She even met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the peak of anti-CAA movement when he came to Kolkata in January,” said BN Chakrabarty a professor of political science and political analyst.
After his meeting with the Prime Minister the Chief Minister told the media that she had met him as it was the tradition to welcome a guest adding how the talks between the two leaders remained confined to the financial demands of the State Government.
If the meeting between Shah and Banerjee takes place at Bhubaneshwar it will be the second such meeting in the past five months or so as the two leaders met in Delhi late last year when Banerjee went to the Capital to meet the Prime Minister and the Home Minister leading the opposition parties to attack the Chief Minister for her double standards.
Incidentally Banerjee’s Delhi visit had coincided with the CBI’s relentless pressure on the then ADG CID Rajiv Kumar who was allegedly gone underground with the Agency sleuths hot in pursuit.
Kumar was wanted by the CBI for his role in the investigation of the multi-crore Sharada chit fund case. Even as in subsequent hearing Kumar got reprieve in Calcutta High Court which provided shield to him from arrest the State Opposition cried foul alleging the CBI once again withdrew into its shell following Banerjee’s urgent visit toDelhi.
Reacting to the February 28 summit State Congress leader Manoj Chakrabarty said “whether this meeting in Bhubaneshwar is really on internal security or the TMC leaders’ security will only be revealed subsequently.”
Apart from other things inter-state relations particularly on boundary issues and trade and commerce are likely to come up in the meeting. An ongoing boundary dispute between Bengal and Jharkhand may also come up for discussion, sources said.