Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who skipped the Kolkata meeting said the date was fixed without ascertaining his availability.
Trying to play down his not attending the meet to keep Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee in good humour by ?not sharing common dais with her arch rival, West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee?, Kumar said: ?I had been away from Bihar for four days. With pressing engagements back home and the next Assembly session (in which the last Budget of the NDA government will be presented), it is not possible to be away from Bihar at short notice.?
Even as the Centre has launched its offensive?the Operation Greenhunt?against the Naxals and called a review meeting of four Naxal-affected states, including Bihar, the CM maintained: ?We cannot tackle Naxalism by force. We should rather take development initiatives to wean Ultras away from the wrong path.?
Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren had to skip the meeting after he was admitted to the Apollo hospital here with chest pain. With Soren indisposed, DGP Neyaz Ahmad and deputy CMs Raghvar Das and Sudesh Mahato attended the meeting.