Mukherjee, who is also the Finance Minister, missed the photo opportunity on Parliament lawns this morning apparently due to a communication gap.
The Finance Minister's office apparently had not seen the advisory put out in Lok Sabha Bulletin for the past several days.
Parliament sources said that the Secretariat sends special invitations only to the President, the Vice President and the Prime Minister and members of Parliament have to rely on the Parliament bulletin issued every day.
Mukherjee is understood to be upset at the goof-up.
President Pratibha Patil, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Speaker Meira Kumar, Leaders of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi were all there but Mukherjee was conspicuous by his absence. Some ministers also missed the photo-op.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal realised that Mukherjee was absent but there was little he could do as the President had already arrived.
"Lok Sabha secretariat and Rajya Sabha secretariat give information through their bulletin. I see the bulletins regularly and this (the group photograph session) has come several times. I cannot say anything more than that," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said.
