Mamata Banerjee addresses a Trinamool Congress rally. (Agence France-Presse)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as also her counterparts from three other states did not attend the meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Sunday to discuss the future of the Planning Commission.
Besides Ms Banerjee, the chief ministers who were absent were from Mizoram, poll-bound Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand.
There was speculation that Ms Banerjee skipped the meeting because of the current friction between her and the central government.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who briefed the media on the day-long deliberations, was asked whether Ms Banerjee skipped the meeting because of Saradha chit fund controversy, to which he replied, "This is not the reason they have told us."
Mr Jaitley said that she has written a letter to the Prime Minister and shared the views of West Bengal.
"The letter indicates that they are in favour of body like Inter-State Council. The same thing was put forward by their Finance Minister," Mr Jaitley said.
West Bengal was represented by its Finance Minister Amit Mitra. J&K and Jharkhand, where assembly elections are underway, were represented by officials.