Bengal guv convenes all-party meet to discuss pending bills,

Hours after West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday invited Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and leaders of legislature parties to discuss issues pertaining to two bills, CPI(M)'s Sujan Chakraborty expressed his inability to attend the meeting due to a prior commitment.

Echoing similar sentiment, senior Congress leader Abdul Mannan said he would have to be at an event in Delhi the day before and a decision would be taken on the meeting following consultations with the party's central leadership.

Earlier in the day, the governor had taken to Twitter to convene an all-party meet on January 17 to seek "guidance" and a "way forward" on two bills -- West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019 and West Bengal State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Bill, 2019 -- which have been passed by the Assembly and were waiting for his consent.

"@MamataOfficial. I have invited leaders of the Legislature Parties in the Legislative Assembly on 17.1.2020 at 12 noon at Raj Bhavan, Kolkata as regards pendency of West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019 and West Bengal State Commission for SC and ST Bill 2019," he tweeted.

In a letter attached with the tweet, he said, "As regards both the Bills, highest attention is being bestowed by me for their consideration at my end, essential inputs have been sought from the West Bengal legislative assembly as also the state government.

"In spite of repeated serious efforts at my end, the requisite information is not forthcoming and that has resulted in further appropriate consideration of the Bill in terms of the Constitution."
"We will decide about the issue (meeting the governor) after talking to the central leadership of our party. There is