Calcutta, Aug. 30: The Congress will attend the September 3 all-party meeting convened by the Left Front government to discuss the proposed chemical hub in Haldia.

“The Congress is not anti-industry and believes in cooperating with any effort to bring back the industrial tradition of Bengal. So we have decided to be part of the all-party meeting,” state Congress working president Pradip Bhattacharyya said.

The party has readied a charter of questions for the state government regarding the hub. “Our objective is to understand the ramifications of the project and we feel that the Congress should get its stand recorded,” Bhattacharyya said.

Manas Bhunia and Sudip Bandopadhyay will be representing the Congress at the meeting.

Party sources said Bhattacharyya took the decision after holding discussions with foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee and information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi.

However, Das Munshi loyalists, including former mayor Subrata Mukherjee and former MLA Abdul Mannan, felt the party should “boycott” the all-party meeting.

“Mamata Banerjee has acted rightly by deciding to skip the meeting. We should take a lesson from her,” Mukherjee said.

The state Congress working president said there were several “grey areas’’ in the proposed hub that needed to cleared at the all-party meeting. The government should address concerns about the suitability of the project and environment aspects.

RSP leader Kshiti Goswami and the CPI’s Nandogopal Bhattacharya met Forward Bloc leader Ashok Ghosh tonight. The Front partners decided not to oppose the chemical hub at the all-party meet.