CMs of 10 states skip today's PM Modi-chaired NITI Aayog meet

The Chief Ministers of at least 10 states – Punjab, Delhi, Telangana, Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan, and Karnataka (all of them ruled by non-BJP parties) – are skipping the 8th meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair on Saturday (May 27).

The chief ministers of Delhi and Punjab, both ruled by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), have formally announced their decision to boycott the NITI Aayog’s meeting.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has decided to boycott the meeting in protest against the ordinance passed by the Central Government which overturned the Supreme Court’s order that gave the Delhi government control over services.

He also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about his decision to boycott the meeting, saying, “What is the use of attending this meeting, when the Centre is openly making fun of cooperative federalism.”

Also read: Cooperative federalism being turned into joke, boycotting Niti Aayog meet: Kejriwal to Modi

Kejriwal, in his letter to the prime minister, said, “NITI Aayog’s objective is to prepare a vision for India and promote cooperative federalism. But in the past few years, the way democracy has been attacked and the way the non-BJP governments are being toppled, is neither our country’s vision nor cooperative federalism.”

He accused the Centre of sending a message across the country that the BJP would not tolerate any non-BJP party forming the government in any state. He said any non-BJP government would be toppled by poaching their MLAs, or the ED and CBI was used to threaten the MLAs to break the government.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will not attend the Niti Aayog meeting in protest against the central government not paying ₹3,600 crore to the state towards rural development fee (RDF).

AAP’s Punjab state unit chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said the chief minister had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal regarding the RDF, with no effect.

“They have reduced our Mandi Development Fee (MDF) from 3 per cent to one percent. Where will the money come from for the development of rural areas and the mandi infrastructure? The Centre is discriminating against Punjab. So in protest, the chief minister will not be going for the NITI Aayog meeting,” Kang said.

Punjab CM Mann to skip Niti Aayog meeting amid AAP tussle with Centrehttps://t.co/L0tH07kJkr

— AAP Report (@AAPReport) May 26, 2023

Telangana’s BRS party said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao would not attend the NITI Aayog’s meeting in Delhi as he would be hosting Arvind Kejriwal, who is going to Hyderabad on Saturday morning (May 27) to seek support from BRS to oppose the Centre’s ordinance on control of services in Delhi.

Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao to skip the NITI Aayog meeting which will take place tomorrow. CM KCR will meet Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and other MPs in Hyderabad tomorrow: BRS Sources

— ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2023

The Odisha chief minister’s office said that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would not attend the governing council meeting of NITI Aayog because he had a prior programme in Odisha.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had already decided that she would not attend the NITI Aayog’s governing Council meeting, and planned to send the state finance minister and the chief secretary to the meeting in her place. The Centre, however, was adamant that only Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should attend the event.

Also read: India’s economy to grow at 6% in 2023-24: Ex-Niti Aayog VC Rajiv Kumar

West Bengal’s State Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya told PTI, “We had requested the Centre to allow me and the chief secretary to attend the meeting as Mamata Banerjee is busy with some other work. In its reply, the Centre said the ‘CM may attend’. This is an indirect way of not allowing anybody other than the CM to attend the meeting. Hence, there will be no representative of West Bengal at tomorrow’s meeting.”

“If the chief minister of the state is preoccupied with some other work, can’t she send any minister or official on her behalf? After all, I am the finance minister of the state and can represent the state. I do not understand the logic of not allowing the finance minister to attend the Niti Aayog meeting,” she said.

Karnataka’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is also unlikely to attend the meeting since he would be busy with the swearing-in program to expand his cabinet on Saturday (May 27).

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin is away on a two-nation tour.

Sources in the Bihar government said that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was unlikely to attend the meeting as he had several engagements in Patna on Saturday (May 27).

Kerala, Rajasthan CMs to skip PM Modi's NITI Aayog meeting

Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/t7k0pyW2Q7#NITIAyog #KeralaCM #PinarayiVijayan #AshokGehlot pic.twitter.com/x7OSDswyWg

— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) May 27, 2023

(With agency inputs)