Delhi CM and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal CM Mamata, 9 other CMs absent at Niti meet
TNN | May 28, 2023, 03.57 AM IST
Chief ministers of 10 states governed by opposition parties skipped Saturday's governing council meeting of Niti Aayog in Delhi citing various reasons, prior engagements and in protest, such as Delhi CM and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal who said he stayed away from the event because of "the way democracy has been attacked and non-BJP governments are being toppled" the past few years. Among the BJP-governed states, Manipur CM N Biren Singh didn't attend the meeting.
The others who didn't attend the meeting were Punjab's Bhagwant Mann, Bihar's Nitish Kumar of JD(U), Bengal's Mamata Banerjee of TMC, Telangana's K Chandrasekhar Rao of BRS, Odisha's Naveen Patnaik of BJD, Tamil Nadu's MK Stalin of DMK, Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan of CPM, and Congress CMs Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan and Karnataka's Siddaramaiah.
Nitish blamed the Centre for his inability to attend the Niti Aayog meeting, saying he wished to raise issues like caste-based census and his longstanding demand for special status to his state.
"When I received the schedule of the Niti Aayog meeting I sought a change in the timings since it clashed with (first PM Jawaharlal) Nehru's death anniversary function in Patna. They (the Centre) did not agree... Had they even agreed to hold the meeting in the afternoon, I would have been able to attend," he said. He alleged the Centre turned down a request to allow "a few cabinet ministers and top bureaucrats" to represent Bihar at the meet.
Punjab's Mann said he boycotted the meeting in protest against the Centre not paying the rural development fee of Rs 3,600 crore to the state. He was in Hyderabad where he and Kejriwal met their Telangana counterpart KCR.
Officials in Odisha said CM Naveen skipped the meeting and will miss Sunday's inauguration of the new Parliament building as well because he would be busy with engagements relating to the completion of four years of his current five-year term. Bengal CM Banerjee had announced she would not attend the meeting, while her Kerala counterpart Vijayan had excused out citing prior programmes.
The others who didn't attend the meeting were Punjab's Bhagwant Mann, Bihar's Nitish Kumar of JD(U), Bengal's Mamata Banerjee of TMC, Telangana's K Chandrasekhar Rao of BRS, Odisha's Naveen Patnaik of BJD, Tamil Nadu's MK Stalin of DMK, Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan of CPM, and Congress CMs Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan and Karnataka's Siddaramaiah.
Nitish blamed the Centre for his inability to attend the Niti Aayog meeting, saying he wished to raise issues like caste-based census and his longstanding demand for special status to his state.
"When I received the schedule of the Niti Aayog meeting I sought a change in the timings since it clashed with (first PM Jawaharlal) Nehru's death anniversary function in Patna. They (the Centre) did not agree... Had they even agreed to hold the meeting in the afternoon, I would have been able to attend," he said. He alleged the Centre turned down a request to allow "a few cabinet ministers and top bureaucrats" to represent Bihar at the meet.
Punjab's Mann said he boycotted the meeting in protest against the Centre not paying the rural development fee of Rs 3,600 crore to the state. He was in Hyderabad where he and Kejriwal met their Telangana counterpart KCR.
Officials in Odisha said CM Naveen skipped the meeting and will miss Sunday's inauguration of the new Parliament building as well because he would be busy with engagements relating to the completion of four years of his current five-year term. Bengal CM Banerjee had announced she would not attend the meeting, while her Kerala counterpart Vijayan had excused out citing prior programmes.