Mamata to be at NITI Aayog meeting as ‘Oppn voice’, says did not hear from INDIA

In Delhi to attend the meeting — the first after the Lok Sabha elections and formation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third government — Banerjee said she learnt about the decision of some INDIA bloc CMs to boycott the meeting from the media.

She went on to add, “There is no need to come to attend this meeting. First, they asked us to send our speeches before seven days of the meeting. After that came the Budget… Then I felt that it is better not to come… Then (her nephew and MP) Abhishek (Banerjee) and others told me ‘please do come’… I spoke to Hemant (Soren) also. He is coming. Others, they did not contact us… There was no coordination between us and others,” she said.

She added that if the INDIA partners had consulted the TMC, “we would have decided whatever the INDIA alliance decided”.

Sources in the Congress said that they had informally urged the TMC to persuade Banerjee to skip the meeting. Earlier, CMs of several Opposition-ruled states, including Tamil Nadu’s M K Stalin, Telangana’s A Revanth Reddy, Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah and Himachal Pradesh’s Sukhvider Singh Sukhu said they would boycott the meeting against what they termed a “discriminatory Union budget.”

Stalin was the first to announce a boycott on Tuesday evening. The DMK also urged other parties which are in power in states to follow suit, sources said. Later that evening, the Congress too announced that its three chief ministers too would stay away.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan too will stay away but state Finance Minister K N Balagopal is set to attend the meeting on Saturday.

During her Delhi visit, Banerjee has no meetings scheduled with the Congress leadership either. Soon after her arrival though, she visited the residence of her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal and met his wife Sunita. Earlier this month, on a visit to Mumbai, Banerjee held meetings with NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray.

Asked if a meeting was scheduled with the Congress, Banerjee said: “Why are you asking about one party? There is no meeting. It is not that tomorrow there is a meeting, and I am not attending.”

Asked about Banerjee and Soren’s participation at the meeting, senior Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said: “There is no question of any rift…The Budget was all about kursi bachao, saathi patao and badle lete jao (save the seat, make allies happy, and take revenge)… Those states where the BJP suffered a setback, and those states where the Opposition is in government, were not given anything.”

Banerjee added that she will make a demand for the NITI Aayog to be disbanded at Saturday meeting. “They do not have any financial powers. They cannot do anything… (and) only convene a meeting in a year to show their face… Please bring back the Planning Commission.. It was a plan of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The Planning Commission did a lot for the country and states… Since the formation of the NITI Aayog, I have not seen a single work being done because they don’t have any power.”

At Saturday’s meeting, “I will speak not only for me but I will speak for all INDIA allies,” Banerjee added. Hitting out at the Budget, the CM said it was “absolutely politically biased” and “deprived all the Opposition states”. While the Planning Commission said “had taken care of states”, Banerjee said, now “there is no hope or scope”.

“We believe there must be good relations between the Centre and states for development purposes. They say it is cooperative federalism but in practice, it is totally biased politics,” she said. Accusing the BJP of being selective in its budgetary allocations, the CM said: “They (the Centre) have deprived our state… Economic blockade, political conspiracies, they did not spare Bengal. Somebody from the BJP said divide Assam, somebody said divide Bihar and Jharkhand and Bengal. They want to divide the country itself… It is important to raise a voice against this.”

She added: “You can give some economic packages to your friends, but you cannot deprive others. You cannot discriminate one state in favour of another. This means BJP ka vikas (the BJP’s development agenda) is only for those who are with them. The government’s policy should be for everyone.”

Since the Budget was presented Tuesday, the INDIA bloc has been attacking the government over its “discriminatory attitude” towards non-NDA states. Keen to keep crucial NDA constituents, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Janata Dal (United), happy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced several projects for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh in the Budget.