West Bengal to soon be renamed 'Paschimbanga'

After the historically famous Calcutta, capital of West Bengal, was renamed Kolkata, it is now the turn of the state itself to undergo a name change.

A consensus to rename West Bengal as Paschimbanga was reached at an all-party meeting on the matter today. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee suggested the new name and it was unanimously agreed on, state parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee told reporters after the meeting in the state assembly.

"It has been unanimously decided that state's new name will be Paschimbanga from now in all languages," he said.

"We wanted a change in the name of the state to get the administrative advantage," he added.

Apart from the ruling Trinamool Congress and its allies the Congress and SUCI (C), Left Front constituents - the two Communist parties, the RSP, the Forward Bloc and GJM, among other parties, attended the meeting chaired by Banerjee.

Banerjee had earlier empowered Chatterjee and leader of the opposition Surjyakanta Mishra to study the new name for the state.