Express News Service

NEW DELHI:   With the Opposition at loggerheads with the Centre over a host of issues, at least seven chief ministers will skip the NITI Aayog’s eighth Governing Council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. It comes close on the heels of 20 Opposition parties announcing their boycotting the inauguration of the new Parliament building on Sunday by the prime minister. 

The no-show list of CMs comprises West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan, Tamil Nadu’s M K Stalin, Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab’s Bhagwant Mann, Telangana’s K Chandrasekhar Rao and Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah.

The Governing Council, the apex body of NITI Aayog, includes all CMs, Lt Governors and several Union ministers. Kejriwal, who is locked in a face-off with the Centre over an ordinance to control the administrative services of Delhi, wrote to Modi on Friday saying he will boycott the Niti Aayog meeting, alleging the Centre’s commitment to cooperative federalism was a joke. 

Mann is upset over the Centre’s discrimination against Punjab. According to AAP’s state chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang, the boycott decision was taken as “the Centre has withheld Rural Development Fund totalling Rs 4,000 crore, stopped mandi tax and delayed or shifted some sanctioned projects to other states.” 

Though TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had initially announced her intention to attend the meeting, she later changed ther mind. As for the Telangana CM, he is upset with the Centre disregarding the principle of cooperative federalism and meddling in the rights of states, said sources close to him. 

According to sources, M K Stalin and Pinarayi Vijayan will not make it due to other engagements. Stalin is currently in Japan on an official visit. Siddaramaiah is scheduled to attend the swearing-in ceremony of new members in his expanded ministry on Saturday. However, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren will attend.

Proposal rejected
According to sources, the Centre rejected Mamata’s proposal to depute Minister of State for Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya and Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi as representatives for the meeting

<br /> NEW DELHI:   With the Opposition at loggerheads with the Centre over a host of issues, at least seven chief ministers will skip the NITI Aayog’s eighth Governing Council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. It comes close on the heels of 20 Opposition parties announcing their boycotting the inauguration of the new Parliament building on Sunday by the prime minister. </p> <p>The no-show list of CMs comprises West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan, Tamil Nadu’s M K Stalin, Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab’s Bhagwant Mann, Telangana’s K Chandrasekhar Rao and Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah.</p> <p>The Governing Council, the apex body of NITI Aayog, includes all CMs, Lt Governors and several Union ministers. Kejriwal, who is locked in a face-off with the Centre over an ordinance to control the administrative services of Delhi, wrote to Modi on Friday saying he will boycott the Niti Aayog meeting, alleging the Centre’s commitment to cooperative federalism was a joke. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });</p> <p>Mann is upset over the Centre’s discrimination against Punjab. According to AAP’s state chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang, the boycott decision was taken as “the Centre has withheld Rural Development Fund totalling Rs 4,000 crore, stopped mandi tax and delayed or shifted some sanctioned projects to other states.” </p> <p>Though TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had initially announced her intention to attend the meeting, she later changed ther mind. As for the Telangana CM, he is upset with the Centre disregarding the principle of cooperative federalism and meddling in the rights of states, said sources close to him. </p> <p>According to sources, M K Stalin and Pinarayi Vijayan will not make it due to other engagements. Stalin is currently in Japan on an official visit. Siddaramaiah is scheduled to attend the swearing-in ceremony of new members in his expanded ministry on Saturday. However, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren will attend.</p> <p>Proposal rejected<br /> According to sources, the Centre rejected Mamata’s proposal to depute Minister of State for Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya and Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi as representatives for the meeting<br />