JOIN USOnly three of the five chief ministers invited for the South Zonal Meet to be chaired by Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde will participate in the meeting on Friday.
Official sources said that while chief ministers of Karnataka (Jagadish Shettar), Andhra Pradesh (Kiran Kumar Reddy) and Puducherry (N Rangaswamy) had confirmed their participation, chief ministers of Tamil Nadu (B Jayalalitha) and Kerala (Oommen Chandy) have sent word that they would be represented by Cabinet ministers and chief secretaries.
The meeting is taking place after five years. It will focus on various issues concerning the four southern states, and matters pertaining to the Home Ministry (law and order, trafficking, terrorism and drug control).
The meeting, to be held at the Taj West End hotel, will start at 11 am. Shettar will give the welcome speech, which will be followed by Shinde’s inaugural address.
Shinde, who arrived in the City on Thursday evening by a special aircraft, is scheduled to leave Bangalore Friday afternoon.