Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, rpeortedly skipped the PM Narendra Modi led Governing Council meeting of Niti Aayog on Saturday, the officials said.
Instead Bihar’s deputy chief ministers Vijay Kumar Sinha and Samrat Choudhary represented the state during the meeting, they added.
It was unclear why Nitish Kumar was unable to attend the important meeting right away, though sources suggest that the central government’s approval of budget proposals for Puducherry may have influenced his decision to skip the meeting.
Prime Minister Modi chaired the meeting, focusing on various development issues and policy matters.
The meeting, however, saw a notable boycott from several Opposition chief ministers, with only West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a member of the INDIA bloc, in attendance.
Following the discussions, Banerjee expressed her frustration, claiming she was not given an opportunity to speak. She criticised the Union Budget as “politically biased,” highlighting her concerns over the government’s fiscal policies.
Niti Aayog, the central government’s premier public policy think tank, comprises the Prime Minister as Chairman, along with Chief Ministers from all states, Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories, and various union ministers.
Sources indicate that chief ministers from BJP-ruled states were instructed to participate in the meeting and present their governments’ key achievements to Prime Minister Modi. “The chief ministers of the BJP-ruled states have been asked to highlight the achievements of their tenure in office, as well as the performance of various departments and schemes,” a source informed India Today TV prior to the meeting.
Among those who chose to boycott the meeting were Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, and Congress leaders including Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah, Himachal Pradesh’s Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, and Telangana’s Revanth Reddy.