Bhubaneswar, July 10: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik was conspicuous by his absence at the international flight inaugural function today, setting tongues wagging.

Union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram and petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan flagged off the Air India's flight to New Delhi. The only prominent leader from the BJD, present at the function, was Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patasani.

Oram said: "This is the beginning, and in near future, we can have direct flights to foreign destinations or flights via metro airports."

Pradhan said: "The first AI international flight will fulfil the dream of Odias and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to link all major airports to international destinations through the hub and spoke model." He also said the Centre was already in talks with airlines such as IndiGo, Spicejet and Air Asia to carry out detailed field survey and take decision on having a direct (or via metro) flight to Bhubaneswar.

Though there was no official explanation about Naveen's absence, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb said: "The flight service is neither domestic nor international and, therefore, we have lodged our protest."

The BJP and the BJD are sparing no efforts to appropriate credit for Nabakalebar infrastructure projects. The tussle for supremacy between the two parties had become evident at yesterday's function near Pipili, where the four-lane Bhubaneswar-Puri highway was formally inaugurated.

Another BJD leader said: "The ministry of civil aviation decides on the service to foreign destination. Had there been a serious thought, the Centre could have started an indirect flight (via a metro airport) to a destination in the Middle East or Southeast Asia. Instead, they have played a crude joke on us."

Naveen was present at the inauguration of the new domestic terminal (T1) on March 5, 2013 and instrumental in bringing down the VAT following the Centre's declaration to designate the city airport as international on October 30, 2013.