Kolkata:
The President laid the foundation stone for the Metro Rail project from Joka to BBD Bagh in Kolkata on Wednesday but the state Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was not present there.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has not included him in the guest list but included his Transport Minister.
"I received no invitation," the Chief Minister said when asked if he had been invited by the Railways for the programme at Joka in adjoining South 24 Parganas district for the Joka-BBD Bagh Metro Railway project.
Bhattacharjee said he also did not have any information about any of his cabinet colleagues being invited to the programme.
Transport minister Ranjit Kundu, who earlier said he had not been invited, stated that a messenger had delivered a letter to his office after he had left for the day.
"The invitation letter was delivered at the eleventh hour and there is no question of attending the programme considering the indecent manner in which the invitation has been accorded. It involves the prestige of the state government," Kundu said.
Secretariat sources said that the invitation letters to the Chief Secretary and Home Secretary were delivered "at the last moment."