It is learnt that invitations for the meeting have been sent to all these alliance partners by NDA convenor George Fernandes. While TC chief Mamata Banerjee and Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu at least have a plausible reason -- they are technically still not members of the alliance -- Janata Dal president Sharad Yadav and Lok Shakti chief Ramakrishna Hegde have reportedly decided to stay away in a bid to express their displeasure with Fernandes.

Even in the case of the TC and the TDP, it is learnt their party chiefs have deliberately decided to skip the meeting as a mark of protest. While Mamata is annoyed over the Prime Minister's decision to add a third minister to theministry of railways, Naidu is unhappy with the Centre for its refusal to accede to his demand of providing Rs 200 crore for relief work in the 12 drought-affected districts of Andhra Pradesh.

``Yes, I have received the invitation to attend the coordination committee meeting, but I haven't yet decided whether to attend it,'' Mamata told The Indian Express this afternoon. ``Sunday abhi door hai (Sunday is far off),'' she added.

TDP parliamentary party leader K Yerrannaidu has been lobbying with the Centre for clearing this amount. He met Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar yesterday. He is also said to have met Mamata to discuss the issue.

While Janata Dal chief Sharad Yadav was kept away from the last coordination committee meeting, he has reportedly been invited this time round as his party's merger with the Samata Party and Lok Shakti has still not taken place. In private he is learnt to have declared his intentions of staying away from the meeting, a view which political observers attributeto his differences with Fernandes.

Upset over the decision to exclude him from the Union Cabinet, Hegde too is unlikely to attend the meeting. He is said to have expressed his unhappiness with the Defence Minister for not consulting him before recommending his exclusion.