Raj Bhavan hosted a wedding reception on Sunday, nearly 25 years after it was first used for the purpose. In the late seventies, the then West Bengal governor A.L. Dias had arranged a reception at Raj Bhavan on his daughter Lalita?s marriage. Strains of shehnai once again wafted across the sprawling Raj Bhavan lawns on Sunday evening as Governor Shyamal Kumar Sen held a reception for his son Sakya?s marriage to Debarati. The wedding ceremony was held last Friday at the Burdwan Rajbati on Alipore Road. The couple received guests at the spacious banquet hall from 7 pm. Among those who attended were chief minister Jyoti Basu, finance minister Asim Dasgupta and their Cabinet colleagues. Chief secretary Manish Gupta, other secretaries and senior police officers were also present. The Governor?s secretary, Arko Pravo Deb, who was recuperating at the SSKM hospital, got his doctors? permission to attend the function. A galaxy of High Court judges and advocates was also present. ?More than 600 guests and relatives were invited to the reception,? said a Raj Bhavan official. He added that the Governor?s joint secretary A.K. Bala had a hectic week despatching the invitation letters. ?Sakya babu rang me up from Raj Bhavan tonight asking me to join the reception but I could not because of a stomach upset,? said Chaitannya Thakur, a peon at the Sens? Bagbazar residence. ?I was also present at Alipore where the marriage took place on Friday,? he added. Other members of the Sen family were not available for comment as they had gone to the reception. Before leaving for the reception, the chief minister told The Telegraph that he had never heard of a marriage taking place within the Raj Bhavan. ?Such occasions have not taken place before this during during my 23-year tenure,? Basu said. Asked whether his government had approved of the Raj Bhavan hosting a wedding reception, Basu said: ?You better check with the chief secretary.? Chief secretary Manish Gupta said the government had nothing to do with events taking place at Raj Bhavan. ?Raj Bhavan is the Governor?s office-cum residence and it is his discretion to use the Raj Bhavan as he wishes,? he observed.