Kolkata, Sep 22 - High drama prevailed at the annual general meeting of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI) Tuesday, when union Minister of State for Shipping Mukul Roy left the meeting mid-way and refused to acknowledge the West Bengal ministers sitting on the dais.

Emerging out of the meeting, state Commerce and Industries Minister Nirupam Sen told reporters: 'This type of incident is unexpected. Earlier also, we have shared dais with many central ministers, but we have never faced any such situation.'

Roy, a close aide of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, had been at the forefront of the popular movements in Singur and Nandigram against the state government's industrialisation drive.

State's Urban Development Minister Ashoke Bhattacharya said: 'This is no courtesy. If our presence bothered him, he should have told us and we would not have come.'

However, BNCCI officials said Roy was in a hurry and had to attend an emergency meeting.

Singur turned into a battleground in May 2006 after the Left Front-ruled state government announced auto major Tata Motors' Nano small car project there.