Kolkata: Nipping controversy in the bud, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday requested Left leaders belonging to the opposition to garland the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose near Raj Bhavan at the main function on the leader’s 116 birth anniversary on Monday.
As per convention the chief minister garlands the statue of Netaji first followed by the council of ministers and opposition leaders to observe the day as ‘Deshapran Diwas’. The Kendriya Netaji Janmotsav Committee of which Ashok Ghosh, veteran of Forward Bloc, is the chairman was upset that it did not figure in the list of those who would garland the statue. The matter also came up at the Left Front meeting on Saturday. It was decided therefore that the Left leaders would go to the venue and garland Netaji’s statue after the chief minister followed by her council of ministers did so. (PTI)