BJP zonal meet to skip debate on Mamata

KOLKATA: With Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee yet to decide her future plans, the BJP high command will not discuss any strategy for next year’s panchayat elections in West Bengal at its two-day eastern zonal conference beginning in Kolkata on Saturday.
The estranged relationship between the Trinamul and the BJP though would be discussed, confirmed Rajya Sabha MP and BJP central observer Devdas Apte.
“However, any decision on this is-sue has to be taken by Mamata Banerjee first. She must decide what she wants to do,� he said on Thursday.
The conference would aim at galvanising the organisation in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand. Party president Venkaiah Naidu, Shatrughan Sinha, Pramod Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Yashwant Sinha and Shahnawaz Hussain will attend the conference among others.
Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi and Sushil Modi, leader of the Opposition in Bihar, are also expected to attend.
State BJP chief Ashim Ghosh hoped the conference, one of the largest in recent times, would be a learning process for the state and district leaders. “It will serve as a political camp for us as well. The political situation in the country and states will be dis-cussed. The aim is to revitalise the organisation,� he stated.
“The panchayat polls are important, but alliances will not be dis-cussed,� informed Apte, denying that any change of leadership would be discussed at the conference. BJP leader Muzaffar Khan said this would be the first occasion when district leaders would interact with the high command.