CM Mamata Banerjee likely to be present in Niti Aayog meeting on July 27, press for Bengal’s dues

On July 27, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to place the vision document of the Narendra Modi government’s ‘Viksit Bharat @2047’ roadmap at the Niti Aayog meeting.

State government sources said Banerjee may reach Delhi on July 24 or 25 and meet with leaders of the INDIA bloc at the Parliament Hall. (PTI)

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will likely attend the Governing Council meeting of the Niti Aayog scheduled to be held in Delhi on July 27. This would be the first visit of Banerjee to the national capital, after her party’s impressive showing in the Lok Sabha elections.

State government sources said Banerjee may reach Delhi on July 24 or 25 and meet with leaders of the INDIA bloc at the Parliament Hall. She is also likely to pay a visit to Sonia Gandhi at her residence.

It is not clear yet if Banerjee will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Niti Aayog meeting but sources said the Bengal CM will strongly raise with the Union Government the issue of pending Central dues for MGNREGA and PMAY schemes.

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“The new Union Government does not have a huge majority like the previous one. So, we are expecting that our demands may be considered,” said a senior official of the state finance department.

On July 27, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to place the vision document of the Narendra Modi government’s ‘Viksit Bharat @2047’ roadmap at the Niti Aayog meeting. All chief ministers have been requested to be present on the occasion.

Notably, Banerjee used to attend the meetings of Niti Aayog initially but later deputed the finance minister to represent the state. If she does turn up at the Niti Aayog meeting, it would be after a long hiatus.

Atri Mitra

Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal. Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur. He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More

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