West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi but skipped a review meeting with him, which was scheduled to assess the damage caused in the state by Cyclone Yaas. Banerjee later said she took Modi’s permission to leave the meeting.

“Prime minister had called a meeting. We (her office) didn’t know I had the meeting in Digha (but) went to Kalaikunda. I told him you (state’s officials) wanted to meet me. I took his permission and left,” reported news agency ANI quoting Banerjee.

The chief minister said she handed Modi a report on the disaster but couldn’t attend the review meeting as she had to attend a meeting at Haldia.

Also read: Cyclone Yaas: Medicines afloat as rainwater enters Patna’s Jai Prabha Hospital. Watch

The review meeting presided by the prime minister included Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari and Banerjee was upset about this, sources told The Hindu.

This was the first meeting between the two political leaders since the assembly elections were held in West Bengal, in which Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress won, making her the chief minister for the third consecutive time.

Modi and Banerjee’s last meeting was held on January 23 at Victoria Memorial in Kolkata to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Indian revolutionary Subhash Chandra Bose.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Modi took aerial surveys of regions affected by Cyclone Yaas in the state, after meeting Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Banerjee also said she will conduct an aerial survey of the affected areas on Saturday.