Art, culture and youth affairs minister Sukhda Pandey and (below) the deserted BJP office where the janata darbar was supposed to be held on Friday. Telegraph pictures

Patna, April 29: Art, culture and youth affairs minister Sukhda Pandey today skipped her janata darbar without giving any prior notice or explanation for her absence.

Even the office in-charge at the BJP headquarters on Beer Chand Patel Path was clueless about the reasons for the minister’s absence.

In a sort of poetic justice, not a single person turned up at the janata darbar to lodge any complaint with the missing minister.

When Lalita Singh Yadav, office in-charge, BJP office, was asked why Pandey failed to turn up even after 45 minutes of the scheduled arrival time of 10am, he said: “Her meeting is scheduled for today. She will come.”

He, then, added: “I do not have any idea. Please do not ask me any more questions.”

Later, an associate of the minister called up the minister to remind her about the scheduled janata darbar. Pandey, however, told him that she was in Buxar on official business.

The associate said: “She is not coming today. She is busy with some urgent work. That is all I can tell you.”

A source said the minister should have informed in advance that she was not going to come.

“She could have at least informed the office in-charge that she would not come today. Even when the darbar did not start at 10am, I thought she would turn up later and not let the opportunity go waste,” said the source.

He added that skipping the darbar had become a common practice of most ministers.

“Road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav and animal husbandry and fisheries minister Giriraj Singh are exceptions to the rule. They always arrive on time and listen to the last visitor. Other ministers should learn from them,” he added.