New Delhi. Niti Aayog meeting is being held in Delhi today. This meeting will be chaired by PM Narendra Modi. Everyone’s eyes are on this meeting of Niti Aayog. The reason for this is West Bengal CM and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee. Apart from Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Mamata Banerjee is the only CM of the opposition government to attend the Niti Aayog meeting. CMs of Congress-ruled states are not attending this meeting, alleging discrimination against their states in the budget. These include Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah, Telangana’s Revanth Reddy and Himachal Pradesh’s Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. Apart from these, Tamil Nadu DMK government CM MK Stalin, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Delhi ministers and Kerala Left Front government CM Pinarayi Vijayan have also boycotted the Niti Aayog meeting.
Mamata Banerjee had already said that she would attend the Niti Aayog meeting. In between, there was news that Mamata Banerjee would not attend the Niti Aayog meeting, but she rescheduled her programme and confirmed her visit to Delhi. Mamata Banerjee said at the Kolkata airport that if she gets a chance to register her protest on discrimination against opposition-ruled states and the conspiracy to divide West Bengal and its neighbouring states, she will do so. Otherwise, she will walk out of the meeting. Mamata Banerjee also said that she was asked to send her written speech 7 days ago. Mamata said that she and Hemant Soren will also speak at the Niti Aayog meeting on behalf of the CMs who are not attending the meeting.
Now everyone’s eyes are on what Mamata Banerjee does during the Niti Aayog meeting? If Mamata Banerjee boycotts the meeting and walks out, will Hemant Soren support her or not? For now, it is clear from Mamata Banerjee’s statement that she is going to speak in this meeting not as the CM but as the leader of the opposition alliance.