Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee must shed his trademark white dhoti-kurta and maybe slip into a shirt if he wants to enter the Tipu Sultan Dining Room or the Regal Lounge of Tollygunge Club.

What had, apparently, been left unwritten and unsaid till now has just been put into black and white.

A dress-regulation circular sent out by the popular club at 120, Deshapran Sashmal Road debars members and room guests from entering the club premises in ?traditional apparel? like ?kurta/pyjama/ kurta/dhoti/?.

?The restrictions were always there, we have only spelt them out for the benefit of members,? offers K.B. Menon, chief executive & managing member, Tollygunge Club Ltd, who signed the circular that has caused a few ripples at the idyllic club address.

While every city club has stipulations on attire, the dress diktat at Tolly, disallowing what to many means the national dress, has stumped several members.

?Fifty-five years after Independence, there?s no reason for us to not allow traditional Indian attire in a social institution,? asserts Manoj Mohanka, a Tolly member. He feels the club needs to take a re-look and amend its dress code, with the focus simply on ?decent dressing?.

Playing down the growing grumbles off the greens, Menon says: ?It?s like a joint family and we collectively decide what is appropriate attire on the club premises.?

But the sudden no-dhoti clause has caught the club circuit by surprise.

DI president Derek O?Brien, for one, is clear on which side of the sartorial divide he stands: ?It?s time we talked about today and forgot our colonial hangover. I wish more members came to our club in dhoti.?

The Jhowtala Road leisure haunt has no dress code till 7 pm and allows ?smart casuals? after that, leaving the interpretation to members.

Formal occasions and settings in most of the clubs, though, are marked by strict attire etiquette. At the Calcutta Club New Year?s Eve dinner and Commemoration Day, the requirement is ?dark lounge suit/national dress? (interpreted as dhoti-kurta, gullabundh or the Nehru jacket).

For the Members? Dinner at DI or the Introduction Day at Saturday Club, the stipulations are, again, lounge suit or national dress. ?But our by-laws don?t permit members to venture into the bars, lounge or cards and billiards rooms in dhoti-kurta, although this is allowed in the verandah and on the lawns,? says Saturday Club president Vijay Burman.

Bengal Club on Russell Street, which also specifies lounge suit/national dress for Foundation Day, is, nonetheless, liberal about dhoti-kurta.

?We respect the traditions of the country and the national dress,? points out past president Amiya Gooptu.