Mamata Banerjee skips meet over 'busy schedule'

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who also holds the Home portfolio, skipped Union Home Minister Amit Shah's two-day meeting with state home ministers at Surajkund in Haryana, which started on Thursday.

"With Bhaiphota on Thursday and Chhat Puja to take place soon, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee could not leave the state," Nabanna (state secretariat) sources said. The Bengal government has sent Additional Director General (Home Guard) Niraj Kumar Singh and West Bengal resident commissioner in New Delhi Ram Das Meena to attend the two-day 'Chintan Shivir'.

The 'Chintan Shivir' is being conducted to prepare an action plan for implementing Vision 2047 and the 'panch pran' (five pledges) announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day speech this year. Banerjee skipping meetings called by the Centre is an oft-criticised phenomena. Banerjee had skipped several Covid review meetings in 2021 during the second wave.


Shah will also chair the Eastern Zonal Council (EZC) meeting on November 5, at Nabanna, and the chief ministers of Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and Bengal are likely to attend.

The Kolkata EZC meeting is likely to take up issues related to cross-border smuggling and stringent punishment under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and whether the National Investigation Agency (NIA) would be asked to probe international smuggling cases. The Centre has sought state governments' opinion on the matter.