Kolkata, Dec 11, 2022, IANS

Kolkata, Dec 11 (IANS): Union Home Minister Amit Shah's office has confirmed to the West Bengal state Secretariat Nabanna that he will come to Kolkata to attend and chair the crucial Eastern Zonal Council meeting on December 17.

The meeting was originally supposed to have been held at Nabanna only on November 5, but was cancelled due to other engagements of the Union Home Minister.

Sources from the state Secretariat said that before the meeting on December 17, a virtual preparatory meeting, chaired by Union Home Secretary, Ajay Kumar Bhalla and attended by senior officials from the members states, namely West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Sikkim, will be conducted on Monday

It is learnt that the main meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council on December 17 will be conducted at the state secretariat auditorium. Besides the Chief Minister of the member states, the meeting will also be expected to be attended by the chiefs of all central armed forces.

Now it remains be seen whether on this occasion there will be a separate one-on-one meeting between the Union Home Minister and West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee. State government officials, however, said that there is no indication of such a separate meeting happening as yet.

Meanwhile, sources from the BJP's state committee in West Bengal said that attempts are on to convince Shah to have a meeting with the top party functionaries in the state and give them some message on the future strategies of the party. However, there is no final confirmation on this count as well till date.