NEW DELHI: Three Chief Ministers from Opposition states and two NDA-allies were absent from the 10th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog held in New Delhi chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.The Opposition CMs who gave a miss include West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan.From the NDA camp, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Puducherry CM N Rangasamy were conspicuous by their absence. The absence of JD (U)’s Nitish Kumar, a crucial ally of the NDA government sparked speculation and criticism from Congress party and RJD, who termed it as indicative of a deeper political message. “Bihar is neither in autopilot nor in pilot mode. We keep hearing daily about incidents of loot and murder. In such a situation, the CM not attending a key national development meeting is troubling,” said RJD leader Manoj Jha.An official source confirmed CM Rangasamy, who leads the AINRC-led NDA coalition in Union Territory Puducherry’s absence, but did not disclose the reason. While there is no official intimation from the West Bengal government on Banerjee’s absence, it should be recalled that she had walked out of the NITI Aayog’s meeting in July last year, claiming that she was allowed to speak only for five minutes. Banerjee alleged that NDA CMs were given 15 minutes to speak. Sources said that Kerala CM could not attend the meeting as he was occupied with the fourth year celebrations of the LDF government. The Chief Minister was not boycotting the meeting and had deputed Finance Minister K N Balagopal to attend the meeting on his behalf, said sources. However, the event was designated for only chief ministers. Congress-ruled Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah cited a “prior engagement” in the state and sent his speech to be read out at the council. However, the CMs of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana N Chandrababu Naidu, MK Stalin, and A Revanth Reddy attended the meeting to present their respective states’ concerns before the council.Tamil Nadu CM M. K. Stalin defended his decision to participate this year. Amid criticism from opposition party AIADMK, which questioned his motives, Stalin stated he was attending to assert the “fair financial rights of Tamil Nadu”. “I will be firm on the ideology! I will get funds for Tamil Nadu through struggle,” he said. AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami had earlier alleged that Stalin’s Delhi visit was driven by personal interests.While the 10th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog was held under the theme Viksit Bharat@2047’, Congress termed it as ‘Ayogya body’ and a exercise in hypocrisy and diversion.
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