No CM, rivals to skip all-party meeting

TT, Calcutta, June 21: The BJP, Left and the Congress have decided to skip the all-party meeting convened in Siliguri tomorrow to discuss the situation in the hills, saying a session without the chief minister would yield little result.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and other hill-based parties have also refused to accept the state government's invitation for the meeting. In the absence of the chief minister, who is in the Netherlands to attend a UN programme, the home secretary will convene the meeting tomorrow.

While state Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury said the government could have called the meeting after the chief minister's return, BJP president in Bengal Dilip Ghosh said "a meeting chaired by the home secretary will yield no result".

CPM leader Jibesh Sarkar said the meeting was "pointless".

The Congress has instead decided to send a delegation, led by leader of the Opposition Abdul Mannan, to Darjeeling on July 1 and submit a report to Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on the situation in the hills.