Mamata Banerjee in Delhi to attend NITI aayog meet; Congress CMs give it a miss

Chandigarh, July 27

NITI Aayog’s eighth Governing Council meeting–to deliberate on several issues–including health, skill development, women empowerment and infrastructure development, with an aim to make India a developed nation by 2047, will began here on Saturday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi would chair the meeting.

In Delhi, to attend a NITI Aayog meeting, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Friday said the public policy think-tank brought by the Modi government should be scrapped and the Planning Commission restored.

In an interaction with a group of journalists here, the West Bengal chief minister called the BJP a “tukde-tukde platform” and asserted she will not allow her state to be divided.

Asked about the situation in neighbouring Bangladesh which has been rocked by widespread anti-quota agitation, Banerjee said while she cannot interfere in the matters of neighbouring countries, as per United Nation conventions her state has to give shelter if refugees turn up at the border.

Banerjee, who is set to attend the NITI Aayog meeting on Saturday even as most INDIA bloc chief ministers have decided to give it a miss, said she felt their voices should be raised on a common platform.

“They (BJP) have formed the government but they don’t have people’s mandate. This is the first time after the BJP came in 2014 that they have not formed the government as a single party,” said the Trinamool Congress chief whose party is a constituent of the INDIA bloc.

She said that because of their “compulsions”, the BJP-ruled NDA has brought a “politically very biased budget” which “deprives” all opposition states.

“I thought it is my duty to raise this voice at least on a common platform though I know the NITI Aayog has no financial powers,” she said.

When asked about her remarks that the National Democratic Alliance government will not finish its tenure, Banerjee, while said rifts will appear within the alliance.

“That is my hunch, but I may be wrong… But when you are in power, you should work for the welfare of people,” she said.

Several INDIA bloc CMs have announced they will skip the meet as a mark of protest against the Union budget which, they alleged, was “anti-federal” in spirit and “extremely discriminatory” towards their states.

The list includes Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin of the DMK, Kerala Chief Minister and CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann of the Aam Aadmi Party and all three Congress chief ministers – Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah, Himachal Pradesh’s Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Telegana’s Revanth Reddy. With PTI inputs