Chief Ministers from eight opposition-governed states have skipped the NITI Aayog Council meeting presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi today. This comes amidst a time that the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party and opposition parties have been at loggerheads over the inauguration of the new parliament building. Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann had announced the boycott of the NITI Aayog meeting as a protest to the Centre's alleged ignorance of Punjab's interest. Mann, in a note to the Centre, said that the meeting had become a mere ‘photo session’ and that there was no use in participating in the meeting until pending issues had been addressed.

Arvind Kejriwal had also written to the PM, announcing a boycott of the meeting over the Centre's ordinance, giving the Delhi LG the final authority in the transfer and posting of officers.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan has not given a reason behind his absence from the important meeting in Delhi.

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Rajasthan's Ashok Gehlot cited health reasons behind skipping the meeting whereas Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik expressed his unavailability at the meeting due to prior scheduled programmes. Bihar's Nitish Kumar and Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao also gave the meeting a miss.

Bhartiya Janata Party launched an attack on the CMs for skipping an important policy meeting. Addressing a presser over the issue BJP leader and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that NITI Aayog is crucial to the country's development and question the intention of the CMs behind skipping a meeting where key issues should have been discussed. “Eight Chief Ministers today did not attend the NITI Aayog meeting. NITI Aayog is very important for the development and planning of the country. 100 issues have been fixed for this meeting, and the Chief Ministers who have not come are not bringing the voice of the people of their state here. How far will you go to protest against Modi?” he told the media.

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The NITI Aayog meeting will discuss issues including infrastructure development, health, skill development, and women empowerment, with an aim to make India a developed nation by 2047.

(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)