PM Modi to lead Niti Aayog meeting today; Eight CMs to skip it

Eight chief ministers from states that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not govern will not attend the eighth governing council meeting of the Niti Aayog on Saturday, which will take place at a time when 21 opposition parties have decided to boycott the May 28 inauguration of the new Parliament building.

All state chief ministers and lieutenant governors of union territories are members of the council, which is presided over by PM Narendra Modi, who also serves as the chairman of Niti Aayog. The plan of action for a “Viksit Bharat” (developed India) is anticipated to be discussed around eight key themes: MSMEs, infrastructure and investment, minimising regulations, the empowerment of women, health and nutrition, skill development, and social infrastructure.

The Chief Ministers who skip the meeting

The following chief ministers have stated that they will not attend the meeting: Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala, M. K. Stalin of Tamil Nadu, Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi, Bhagwant Mann of Punjab, K. Chandrasekhar Rao of Telangana, Nitish Kumar of Bihar, and Siddaramaiah of Karnataka.

Mann is disappointed by the Centre’s treatment of Punjab. According to Malvinder Singh Kang, the AAP’s Punjab state chief spokesperson, the boycott decision was made because “the Centre is withholding Rural Development Fund worth ₹4,000 crores, stopped the mandi tax, and stalled or relocated some approved projects to other states.” All India Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee had first stated her desire to attend the conference, but she later changed the plan. “Niti Aayog, which succeeded the Planning Commission, is a vague body. Can anyone recall exactly what decisions were made at the most recent Niti Aayog session and what was actually accomplished? The Centre doesn’t engage the states before making any decisions,” according to Jay Mazumdar, state vice president of the All India Trinamool Congress.

The Telangana CM is enraged with the Centre for violating the principle of cooperative federalism and interfering with state sovereignty. In a letter to PM Modi on Friday, Kejriwal stated that he was “boycotting” the meeting as a form of protest against the “undemocratic and unconstitutional” May 19 legislation that brought back authority over services in the national capital of New Delhi to the Centre under the LG, thereby invalidating the Supreme Court’s ruling that passed power over to the Delhi government, except for police, public order, and land.

M K Stalin and Pinarayi Vijayan won’t be attending the meeting because of other commitments. Stalin is now on an official visit to Japan. On Saturday, Siddaramaiah is expected to be present for the swearing-in ceremony of new ministers in his expanded ministry. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has reportedly given “prior commitments” as the justification for his inability to attend the meeting, according to top members of the Bihar cabinet in Patna. However, both Hemant Soren from Jharkhand and Bhupesh Baghel from Chhattisgarh will be attending the meeting.