Kolkata, May 20: In a significant political gesture, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has invited all 14 legislators from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) representing eight districts in North Bengal to an administrative review meeting scheduled for Wednesday in Siliguri. This meeting will be presided over by the Chief Minister himself.
An official from the Chief Minister’s Office stated, “The Trinamool is the only opposition party in the state with elected representatives from these eight districts. Therefore, invitations have been sent to all TMC legislators to attend the meeting.”
Sources indicate that the invitations were extended at the insistence of Chief Minister Adhikari, who aims to set a precedent for involving opposition legislators in public service matters and seeking their suggestions as a vital and positive tradition within a democratic framework.
Political analysts believe this move is also a subtle message to former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. During her 15-year tenure from 2011 to 2026, not a single opposition legislator was invited to any government event.
The tradition of inviting opposition legislators to government programs was upheld during the tenures of the last two Marxist Chief Ministers, the late Jyoti Basu and the late Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. However, this practice was completely abandoned during the TMC’s 15 years in power, and it has now been revived under the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state.
Among the 14 TMC legislators from North Bengal, one is from Cooch Behar, five from North Dinajpur, two from South Dinajpur, and six from Malda. Notably, there are no TMC legislators from the remaining four districts of North Bengal: Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, and Alipurduar.
After the administrative review meeting in Siliguri, Chief Minister Adhikari is scheduled to return to Kolkata by late afternoon. Upon his return, he is expected to hold a meeting with top officials from the Border Security Force (BSF).
This meeting will review the process of allocating land for erecting barbed wire along the borders with Bangladesh, where fencing has yet to be established.
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