New Delhi : Despite 13 chief ministers choosing to stay out of the National Integration Council (NIC) meeting, Gujarat leader Narendra Modi was singled out by his rivals for skipping the meeting.

Though a minister represented Gujarat at the day-long meeting, no speech had been presented on the state’s behalf. A Gujarat government official said speeches are presented only when the chief minister attended the meeting.

But speeches of other chief ministers who had skipped the meeting had been read out. Karnataka Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah, who was also absent at the meeting, had presented his speech through his Home Minister K J George.

Besides Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, none of the other BJP chief ministers –Modi, Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), Manohar Parrikar (Goa)—attended Monday’s meeting.

Punjab Chief Minister’s Parkash Singh Badal, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister  Jayalalitha, West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik were the other notable absentees .While Raman Singh sent his Home Minister, Parrikar had deputed his DGP stating that he was “preoccupied”. Chouhan left the meeting after delivering his speech.

Besides Siddaramaiah, four other Congress Chief Ministers, including Rajasthan’s Ashok Gehlot, did not attend. The Chief Ministers of Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Sikkim also stayed away.

Media posed the question of Modi’s absence to Congress leaders and those belonging to its allied parties. Home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the NIC was an important meeting for a leader like Modi to miss.  “Every state has the responsibility, every chief minister has the responsibility and every chief minister should have come.

There presence was very necessary. And there was more urgency for people like Modi to have come. I don’t know why he did not come. He must have some reason. But as a chief minister, he should have come,” he said.