The NITI Aayog Council meeting, which is being presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi today, would be boycotted by seven Chief Ministers. Ashok Gehlot, the chief minister of Rajasthan, excused his absence due to health issues, while Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of Kerala, provided no explanation for his absence.
In a letter to the prime minister on Friday, Arvind Kejriwal expressed his decision to boycott the meeting in protest of the Centre’s recent decree and claimed that the nation’s cooperative federalism was being reduced to a “joke.”
Punjab’s Bhagwant Mann has sent a letter to the Centre claiming that it is not taking Punjab’s interests seriously thus he will boycott the meeting.
Three other important Opposition figures, K Chandrashekar Rao of Telangana, Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, and Nitish Kumar of Bihar, who have been attempting to put together a massive united Opposition front to challenge the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, are also boycotting the conference.
According to official sources, Chief Ministers who abstain from NITI Aayog Governing Council meetings are also abstaining from their state’s development.