All opposition CMs shun NITI Aayog meet

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday chaired the 9th Governing Council meeting of the country’s premier planning body, NITI Aayog, at the new Convention Centre in Pragati Maidan here even as chief ministers of all the states ruled by INDIA bloc of Opposition parties boycotted the meet.

- Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

While CMs of eight Opposition-ruled states boycotted the meet, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee was the only Opposition party leader to attend the meeting but she too stormed out of it alleging that she was discriminated against and not given ample time to speak. The Council is composed of the PM as the chairperson and has all chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories and several union ministers as its members.

The theme of this year’s meet is “Viksit Bharat (Developed India) @ 2047: Role of Team India”. The meeting is also discussing the recommendations of the 3rd National Conference of Chief Secretaries held in December last year.

At the meeting, Modi spoke about the need to grab opportunities for growth. “This decade is of changes, technological and geo-political, and also of opportunities. India should grab these opportunities and make our policies conducive for international investments. This is the stepping stone for progress to make India a developed nation”.

He also called for focussing on development of states to achieve the overall goals, saying, “Viksit States will make Viksit Bharat”. He added that a making India a developed nation was the “ambition of every Indian” and that “States can play an active role to achieve this aim as they are directly connected with the people”.