HYDERABAD: In a surprise first, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday gave the sixth Governing Council meeting of the Niti Aayog chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi a miss. However, the reason for Rao not attending the meeting was not known immediately.
Interestingly, on Friday, the Chief Minister had reportedly called for a meeting with senior officials in the afternoon for a preview of the issues to be raised on Saturday. The officials were to brief him at Pragathi Bhavan but at the last minute, they were told that the meeting was called off.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, too, skipped the meeting, while her Punjab counterpart Amarinder Singh kept away as he was indisposed.
TS Chief Secy attends Niti Aayog meet
Mamata not attending the meeting was no surprise since she considers these conferences fruitless. According to her, the planning body has no financial powers to help the States. But KCR’s absence flummoxed many. At the meeting, Modi is understood to have talked about cooperative federalism at length.
It is unclear if KCR gave the meeting a miss on purpose, and it appears unlikely, as he had recently commented with party leaders that he cannot divulge certain issues with the Centre in the interest of the State. This had set off speculation that he was going soft on the BJP. But his sudden decision to absent himself from the meeting did not add up to his stated stand.
The TRS has been accusing the Centre of not implementing any of the Niti Aayog’s recommendations in the past. The government’s policy think tank had recommended the allocation of around Rs 24,000 crore for Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya. But, the Centre did not honour the recommendation.
Even after the Fifteenth Finance Commission recommended grants for the maintenance of Mission Bhagiratha, the suggestion had been spiked by the Centre. It is quite possible that Rao skipped the meeting as he was sore over the Centre’s reluctance to come to the State’s rescue. Telangana was, instead, represented by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar.