Mamata, Kejriwal give the meet a miss

THE COUNCIL, WHICH IS THE APEX BODY OF THE NITI AAYOG, IS HEADED BY THE PRIME MINISTER AND INCLUDES CHIEF MINISTERS OF ALL STATES IN THE COUNTRY

Chief ministers Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal were among those who skipped the Niti Aayog’s Governing Council meet with the Prime Minister on Sunday in New Delhi.

“West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal could not come to attend the Governing Council meeting on Sunday at Rashtrapati Bhavan,” a source said.

However, the source said deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia represented Delhi at the meet. The source further said a large number of chief ministers are attending the meeting because Prime Minister Narendra Modi had refused to allow their official representatives to participate in the deliberations.

The source said Modi had made it clear that only the chief minister or the deputy chief minister will represent their states and no other official will be allowed to participate in the meeting.

The council, which is the apex body of the Niti Aayog, is headed by the Prime Minister and includes all chief ministers and members.

Among the opposition ruled states, Punjab’s Captain Amarinder Singh, Bihar’s Nitish Kumar, Tripura’s Manik Sarkar, Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah, and Tamil Nadu’s Edappadi K Palaniswami attended the meeting.

Others included Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Jammu and Kashmir’s Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed, and Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik.

Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Suresh Prabhu, Prakash Javadekar, Rao Inderjit Singh and Smriti Irani also attended the meet.