Kolkata, July 9 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will not be attending the Eastern Zonal Council meeting to be chaired by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah and scheduled in the Jharkhand capital of Ranchi on Thursday.

Instead, the West Bengal government will be represented at the meeting by the Minister of State for Finance (Independent charge) Chandrima Bhattacharya, confirmed a member of the state Cabinet who requested anonymity.

Besides West Bengal, the meeting would be attended by representatives from Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.

Mamata Banerjee, like the Chief Minister of the three other states, was also invited to attend the meeting.

“However, because of the prescheduled meeting of the Chief Minister, she would not be able to attend the meeting. Instead, West Bengal will be represented by Chandrima Bhattacharya,” the state Cabinet member said.

There had been earlier instances also when Chief Minister Banerjee had skipped zonal council meetings.

Political observers feel that the main reason for the Chief Minister to skip the Eastern Zonal Council meeting at Ranchi is because of her pre-scheduled meeting with the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at the State Secretariat Nabanna on Thursday afternoon.

However, the West Bengal Ministers and senior leaders of Trinamool Congress are tight-lipped on the possible issues that might come up at the meeting between the two Chief Ministers on Thursday.

After the Pahalgam tragedy concerning the killing of 26 tourists by terrorists, the Trinamool Congress sent a five-member delegation to Jammu and Kashmir to review the situation.

At that time, the members of the delegation also met Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at his official residence there.

He also appreciated the decision of CM Mamata Banerjee to send her party delegation to Jammu and Kashmir amid the Pahalgam massacre.

Eastern Zonal Council is a zonal council that comprises the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha.

There are six zonal councils across the country.

–IANS

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