Union home minister Amit Shah has written to chief minister Mamata Banerjee, requesting her to attend a meeting of home ministers on October 27 and 28 in Surajkund, Haryana.
Although no one in Nabanna confirmed the receipt of the letter, multiple sources in the state BJP said that the letter had indeed been sent by Shah to Mamata, who is also the Bengal home minister.
“The state home secretaries and DGPs have also been invited for the meeting,” said a BJP source.
As no one in the state government wanted to comment on the invite, sent to all states on September 30 by the Union home ministry, it could not be confirmed if anyone from Bengal would attend the meeting called Chintan Shivir and billed as the first-of-its-kind initiative by the Narendra Modi government.
Sources aware of the initiative said that the country’s internal security would be the focus of the meeting in which an entire gamut of issues ranging from the modernisation of the police force and dangers of drug cartels to firefighting preparedness and laws governing enemy property would come up for discussion.
Shah, a source said, will be the speaker at both the inaugural and valedictory sessions at the two-day meet that would have seven separate sessions at which the home ministers of states would make presentations.
The home ministers are also likely to get one-on-one time slots with Shah during the two days as the Union home minister would be staying at Surajkund for the meet.
“The Bengal chief minister has had testy ties with the Union home minister... Besides, she had recently attacked him relentlessly for the hyperactivity of various central agencies like the ED and the CBI... It would be interesting to see how the Bengal chief minister responds to the invite,” said a source.