Mamata to hold meeting with party MPs in Delhi today evening

As the probe in the multi-crore West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment scam intensifies, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will travel to New Delhi on Thursday afternoon where she will hold a meeting with her party's MPs this evening only.

Party sources said after she reaches the national capital, she will first go to the residence of the party's Rajya Sabha member, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray at 7, Mahadev Road and hold a meeting with all the party Parliamentarians. Party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee will also be attending the meeting. The expected time of the meeting is 6 p.m. Thursday.

"The meeting is expected to concentrate on the party's strategy in both the Houses of Parliament in the coming days and is also expected to discuss on how to counter the criticism from other MPs relating to the WBSSC scam both within and outside Parliament," said a senior leader of the party, who did not wish to be named.

On Friday, she is expected to visit the Central Hall of Parliament. Trinamool Congress's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandyopadhyay has reportedly informed the Lok Sabha Speaker about the chief minister's probable visit to the Central Hall on Friday.

However, despite speculations, the party leadership is not sure as yet about the probable time when the chief minister might have a meeting with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "However, the chief minister is especially keen to have an exclusive meeting with former Congress president Sonia Gandhi keeping in mind the long association between them," the party leader said.

Recently, the relationship between the Congress and Trinamool Congress at the national level after the latter decided to abstain from polling in the elections for the post of Vice- President of India. Congress leader Margaret Alva is pitted against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate and former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

When asked about the possibility of the change of the party decision on the Vice- President polls if the meeting between Sonia Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee happens, the Trinamool leader said, "It is up to only the chief minister to decide." The polling for the Vice- President election is scheduled on August 6.