Union Home Minister Amit Shah reached West Bengal's capital Kolkata on Friday evening to attend the Eastern Zonal Council meeting. During this, he was warmly welcomed by BJP State President Sukant Majumdar, Leader of Opposition in Bengal Legislative Assembly Shubhendu Adhikari and State Minister Sujit Bose. Home Minister Shah will chair the meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council (EZC) at the West Bengal Secretariat today. Security has been beefed up around the BJP office and the state secretariat in view of the meeting, a police official said. 

Senior party leaders said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who arrived here on Friday, held a meeting with party leaders. In the meeting, apart from reviewing the preparations of the saffron camp for the upcoming panchayat elections, took stock of the law and order situation in Bengal. The Union Home Minister held a closed-door meeting with senior leaders of the Bengal BJP unit, including the party's state president Sukant Majumdar, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Shubhendu Adhikari and national vice-president Dilip Ghosh. Hooghly MP Locket Chakraborty and Asansol South MLA Agnimitra Paul were also present in the meeting.

According to the information, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, as well as her counterparts from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Sikkim, will participate in the Eastern Zonal Council meeting to be held today i.e. Saturday. During this, along with other issues, the Union Home Minister will also discuss the boundaries of five states and matters related to the completion of the Eastern Freight Corridor. However, secretariat sources said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik are unlikely to attend Saturday's meeting. Chief ministers as well as chiefs of all central armed forces are expected to attend the meeting. Significantly, this meeting was earlier to be held on November 5. But the meeting could not take place due to the busy schedule of Home Minister Shah.