It is not a must for chief ministers to receive the President visiting their state, but, going by convention and courtesy, the CM should nominate a minister to receive the President if he or she is unavailable.There are several instances where chief ministers were missing from the official reception of the President, Vice-President and Prime Minister, but West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee not nominating even a minister to receive President Droupadi Murmu is unusual.Visits and all related arrangements of the President, Vice-President and Prime Minister are managed according to the Blue Book, which is prepared and updated time-to-time by the Union Home Ministry and numbered (every copy has a number) copies are circulated to those concerned. At the ground level, in every district the book is kept in the custody of the District Magistrate and the head of the district police.The Blue Book defines all arrangements necessary for the visits of the dignitaries. Those who have dealt with such arrangements on a number of occasions told The Indian Express that protocol suggests that all these three dignitaries visiting a state should be welcomed by the Governor and the Chief Minister. However, on a number of occasions, the Chief Minister designates one of the ministers to receive them.In West Bengal, there has not been an instance when the Prime Minister or the President has not been received by the Chief Minister (or by a minister). In a much controversial visit of PM Narendra Modi to the state in May 2021, Mamata had skipped a meeting on cyclone chaired by the PM, but she had welcomed him at the airport when he landed there.A very recent case was of President Murmu’s visit to Mathura in UP on September 25 last year where neither Governor Anandiben Patel nor Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were present. However, CM Yogi had nominated one of his ministers, Lakshmi Narain Chaudhary, to receive her. A complete list of those who are going to receive visiting dignitaries and also of those who are going to meet them is approved by their offices in advance.A senior official in UP who was behind the arrangement of several such visits during the previous Samajwadi Party government told The Indian Express: “After Modi became the PM in 2014, till March 2017 whenever he visited UP, if then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav was not available, he nominated one of his ministers to receive him. Same was with then President Pranab Mukherjee’s visits as well.”Story continues below this adThe Blue Book provisions are very strict and even a minor deviation opens inquiries at many levels.One thing is very clear that whoever is going to welcome the three dignitaries at the airport, railway station, on road entry to the state or sea port, the list is sent to respective secretariats (President, Vice-President or PM as may be) and it is approved by them only.Shyamlal Yadav is one of the pioneers of the effective use of RTI for investigative reporting. He is a member of the Investigative Team. His reporting on polluted rivers, foreign travel of public servants, MPs appointing relatives as assistants, fake journals, LIC’s lapsed policies, Honorary doctorates conferred to politicians and officials, Bank officials putting their own money into Jan Dhan accounts and more has made a huge impact. He is member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). He has been part of global investigations like Paradise Papers, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, Uber Files and Hidden Treasures. After his investigation in March 2023 the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York returned 16 antiquities to India. Besides investigative work, he keeps writing on social and political issues. ... Read MoreDivya A reports on travel, tourism, culture and social issues - not necessarily in that order - for The Indian Express. She's been a journalist for over a decade now, working with Khaleej Times and The Times of India, before settling down at Express. Besides writing/ editing news reports, she indulges her pen to write short stories. As Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellow for Excellence in Journalism, she is researching on the lives of the children of sex workers in India. ... Read More © The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Droupadi MurmuMamata Banerjee