The ministerial colleagues of Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik are touring different parts of the country to invite his counterparts to visit the state to witness the upcoming Men’s Hockey World Cup to be held in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.

They already met several chief ministers, including Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, to extend the invitation.

Odisha labour minister Srikanta Sahu on Monday met West Bengal minister of state for finance, health and family welfare, land and land reforms, refugee and rehabilitation Chandrima Bhattacharya and handed her the invitation card for chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Odisha government sources said the invitation card was handed over to Bhattacharya as Mamata was not available.

“Due to urgent work chief minister Mamata Banerjee could not be available,” said a press release issued by the Odisha government.

Odisha, the sponsor of India Hockey both men’s and women’s till 2033, is organising the hockey World Cup for the second time in a row.

The World Cup matches will be played at Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar and the newly built Birsha Munda stadium in the steel city of Rourkela.

The grand opening ceremony of the FIH hockey World Cup will be held at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on January 11. While the opening matches will be played both in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela on January 13, the final match will be held at the Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar on January 29.

During the World Cup, Odisha wants to showcase the tourism potential of the state before the world.

“The World Cup will provide us with the right platform for this and we want to take advantage of this,” said a senior official.

The ministers have already met chief ministers Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Manipur, Kerala, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Puducherry, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamilnadu and Madhya Pradesh.