After Mann, Mamata, Delhi CM To Also Skip NITI Aayog Meeting Chaired By Modi Over Ordinance Row

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal wrote to PM Narendra Modi saying he will not attend the 8th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog tomorrow in protest against the Centre's ordinance on control of services in Delhi.

After Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, their Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal is also set to skip the 8th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog in the national capital on Saturday in protest against the Centre's ordinance on control of services in Delhi. In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, he remarked that the objectives of NITI Aayog are to create a vision of India and promote cooperative federalism but democracy has been "attacked" in the last few years by the Modi government.

"The way democracy has been attacked in the last few years, non-BJP governments are being toppled, broken up or not allowed to work, this is neither our vision of India nor cooperative federalism," the letter, originally written in Hindi, states.

"For the last few years, a message is being given across the country - if people form a government of a non-BJP party in any state, it will not be tolerated," Kejriwal claimed.

In reference to the Delhi services row, the Chief Minister remarked, "After eight years of fighting, the people of Delhi won the battle in the Supreme Court, the people of Delhi got justice. In just eight days, you overturned the order of the Supreme Court by passing an ordinance. So today if any officer of the Delhi government does not work, the (AAP) government elected by the people cannot take any action regarding it."

"How will such a government work? This is completely paralysing the government. Why do you want to paralyse the Delhi government? Is this the vision of India? Is this cooperative federalism?" he questioned PM Modi, further remarking, "People are asking - If the Prime Minister does not accept even the Supreme Court, then where will the people go for justice?"

CM Kejriwal went on to request Prime Minister Modi to let "non-BJP governments work" and "respect" the recent Supreme Court verdict on the Delhi government's rights to ensure that cooperative federalism continues to grow in the nation.

Punjab CM Mann, Bengal CM Mamata To Also Skip 8th Governing Council Meeting Of NITI Aayog

Earlier in the day, Aam Aadmi Party's Punjab unit chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said Chief Minister Bhagwant has taken up with the Centre the demand to release Rs 3,600 crore outstanding rural development fund (RDF), "but the Centre has been sitting over it". Hence, CM Mann will not attend the Niti Aayog meeting in the national capital on Saturday to "protest the alleged discrimination against the state by the Centre over the issue of grant of funds", news agency PTI reported.

"The Centre is discriminating against Punjab...so in protest, the chief minister will not be going for the NITI Aayog meeting," Kang said.

"Sometimes it is the RDF issue, sometimes it is value reduction imposed by the Centre on wheat crops damaged due to untimely rains, GST compensation delay, sometimes it is the coal issue..they 'discriminate' against Punjab. But we want to tell them that the country runs according to the Constitution," Kang told PTI.

Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee decided to skip the meeting, PTI reported citing a senior official at the state secretariat. The decision came a day after the TMC announced that it will boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building in Delhi On May 28.

"The Bengal CM may not be participating in the Niti Aayog scheduled in New Delhi on May 27," the bureaucrat said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the 8th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog on May 27. The meeting will deliberate on several issues including, health, skill development, women empowerment and infrastructure development, with an aim to make India a developed nation by 2047.