Kolkata, 20 May (H.S.) : In a gesture described as political courtesy, Suvendu Adhikari has invited 14 legislators of the All India Trinamool Congress from eight districts of North Bengal to attend the administrative review meeting scheduled to be held in Siliguri on Wednesday.

An official from the Chief Minister’s Office said that the Trinamool Congress is the only opposition party with elected legislators from the eight districts of North Bengal, and therefore all 14 MLAs have been invited to participate in the meeting.

Sources said the invitations were sent following the personal insistence of Chief Minister Adhikari, who believes that involving opposition legislators and seeking their suggestions on public service issues is a healthy democratic practice.

Political observers believe the move is also intended to send a subtle political message to former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. During her 15-year tenure from 2011 to 2026, opposition legislators were reportedly never invited to official government programmes.

The practice of inviting opposition lawmakers to official functions was earlier followed during the tenure of former Left Front Chief Ministers Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. However, the tradition was discontinued during the Trinamool Congress regime and has now reportedly been revived under the current BJP government in the state.

Among the 14 Trinamool MLAs from North Bengal, one is from Cooch Behar, five from Uttar Dinajpur, two from Dakshin Dinajpur, and six from Malda. The party currently has no MLA from Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, or Alipurduar districts.

After the administrative review meeting in Siliguri, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari is expected to return to Kolkata later in the evening. He is also likely to hold a meeting with senior officials of the Border Security Force to review the process of land transfer for fencing the remaining unfenced stretches along the Bangladesh border in West Bengal.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh