Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired the 26th meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council (EZC) in Patna today (December 10). Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and representatives of other member states also attended the meeting.
Several issues like minimum price for a number of minor millets, creation of infrastructure, water sharing, etc were discussed in the meeting. Eastern Zonal Council comprises the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand.
It was the first time that Amit Shah and Nitish Kumar shared the dais in Bihar after JD (U) dumped the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) in August 2022 to form the Grand Alliance (mahagathbandhan) government in the state.
After one and half years, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the 26th Eastern Regional Council meeting. Nitish Kumar, in particular, seemed to welcome Amit Shah only perfunctorily, keeping his gaze largely averted while offering him a flower bouquet, shawl, and memento.
The Bihar Chief Minister also welcomed the representatives of West Bengal, Odisha, and Jharkhand.
Nitish Kumar had, earlier, skipped several meetings of the NITI Aayog and other government meetings to avoid facing Amit Shah or PM Narendra Modi. However, with Bihar hosting the regional council meeting, Nitish Kumar has no option other than to face Amit Shah.
The Home Minister arrived at Patna airport at around 1.45 pm and reached at the venue (CM Secretariat) of the meeting. The meeting started at 2:00 pm and continue till 5:00 pm.
After the ECZ meeting, Shah also held a meeting with state BJP leaders before returning to Delhi at around 7.30 pm. Security was beefed up in Patna for Shah’s visit.
The five Zonal Councils (Western, Eastern, Northern, Southern and Central) were set up under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 to foster Inter-State cooperation and co-ordination among the states.
They were mandated to discuss and make recommendations on any matter of common interest in the field of economic and social planning, border disputes, linguistic minorities or inter-state transport.
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