Five-star hospitality awaits the votaries of Socialist politics during their three-day National Executive meeting in Kolkata. The founding member of the Samajwadi Party and West Bengal fisheries minister, Kiranmay Nanda, is
pulling all resources to ensure that about 100 delegates of party get finest reception during their stay in Kolkata.
To all the talks of being considered as replacement of the expelled SP leader, Amar Singh, Mr Nanda dismisses them as “gossips” and stresses that he is the founding member of the party. “I have been an MLA since 1977 and at that time Mr Amar Singh was nowhere in politics. I am a founding member of the party, which was formed after the split from the Janta Dal in 1993. Though Mr Amar Singh is a friend, all talks of me being his replacement in the party is mere gossip,” Mr Nanda told this newspaper.
However, the West Bengal minister, who recently merged his Socialist Party with the SP, has made arrangements for the stay of party delegates at the famous Park Hotel in the city. Further, the 100 delegates will be taken for dinner at Spring Club on May 21 and on May 22 the dinner will be hosted at Nalban Boating Complex at the Salt Lake City. Apart from a party workers meet, which will be attended by about 20,000 people, at a local stadium, the delegates will remain stay put at the Park Hotel for deliberations.
On the question of the arrangements being quite lavish, Mr Nanda explained that “he has been a minister for the past 28 years and has quite a number of friends and associates who are sponsoring lunches and dinners for the delegates of the SP”. He also added that “the Park Hotel is not that expensive”.
Though the main base of the SP is Uttar Pradesh, the party had earlier organised its National Executive meeting at Kolkata in 1993 and 1995.
The SP chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav, will clarify position of the party on issues like support to the UPA government to the media on May 22, Mr Nanda stated, while adding that the delegates will primarily deliberate on political situation, organisational matters and national economic policies of the government.