Rath Yatra: BJP delegation to meet WB officials

A three-member Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation will meet with West Bengal government officials on Thursday at the Lal Bazaar Conference Room to hold discussions regarding BJP's Rath Yatra, which was slated to be held in several parts of the state.

Mukul Roy, J. P. Majumdar and Pratap Banerjee will represent the BJP in the meeting, while Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and the Director General of Police will participate on behalf of the government.

A divisional bench of the Calcutta High Court had on December 7 directed three BJP representatives to meet the West Bengal officials by today. The decision regarding the matter will be taken by the state government and relayed to the BJP by December 14.

The court had also accepted the BJP's plea for organising Rath Yatras in Cooch Behar and other regions of the state.

Earlier, a single bench of the court had refused to give permission to the BJP to hold the Yatra. The judicature had upheld the concerns cited by the West Bengal government that the programme may stoke communal tensions and cause violence in the region.

The BJP had planned to hold three Rath Yatras beginning with Cooch Behar district today, Kakdwip in the South 24 Parganas district on December 9 and Tarapith in Birbhum district on December 14. The Yatra was to be flagged off by party president Amit Shah from Cooch Behar.