HYDERABAD: Stating that it would be an exercise in futility as States have not been co-opted in preparing the agenda, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday made it clear that he would not be attending the Niti Aayog’s Governing Council meeting scheduled for Sunday.Rao on Saturday dashed off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who would be chairing the meeting, to this effect.
“I do not find it useful to attend the 7th Governing Council meeting of Niti Aayog and (I am) staying away from it as a mark of strong protest against the present trend of Central government discriminating against the States and not treating them as equal partners in our collective effort to make India a strong and developed country”, Rao said in his letter to the Prime Minister.
“Strong and economically vibrant States alone could make India a strong country,” he wrote.Speaking to reporters at Pragathi Bhavan later, the Chief Minister said: “States have not been co-opted in the preparation of agenda of Niti Aayog meetings. The rigmarole of Niti Aayog meetings leave little scope for meaningful dialogue, as participating Chief Ministers are given hardly a few minutes to speak and express their views, thereby not giving any scope to discuss anything in detail”.
“When the Prime Minister said that we will work as a team India, when Niti Aayog was started, we hoped that some good will be done to the country. But unfortunately, Niti Aayog has turned out to be an useless organisation and remained a namesake and passive institution. It stopped intellectual churning completely. It became a Bhajana Mandali to praise some programmes announced by the Prime Minister or others,” Rao said, emphasising that India as a nation could develop only when the States develop.
Rao recalled that Niti Aayog was started as a new institution with the lofty objective of bringing the States on the same page with the Union government for ensuring the equitable development of the country in the true spirit of cooperative federalism.
Niti Aayog proposals not honoured by the Centre, alleges CM
Stating that the Niti Aayog recommendations were not being implemented by the Centre, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said that a ‘transformation’ in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attitude was needed. He recalled that the Planning Commission earlier used to discuss and give suggestions to the States even in preparing the State Budgets. “The underlying principle was that cooperative federalism was the adhesive that would bind the States and the Centre together as ‘Team India’ and help India emerge as a strong nation. The other idea behind the initiative of Niti Aayog was the realisation that only strong States can make a strong nation. But, recent unpleasant happenings have given rise to an inescapable realisation that the federal structure of India is being systematically eroded by some deliberate actions by the Government of India. Needless to say, these developments are very much discouraging to trailblazing States like Telangana.
The blatant discrimination against some states even in the legitimate functions assigned to them in the Constitution leaves much to be desired,” Rao said. “But after Niti Aayog replaced the Planning Commission, the Centre was not even honouring its recommendations. “I do not know who is preparing the agenda for Niti Aayog meetings. Why is the Centre not including FRBM and other items in the agenda?” Rao asked. He recalled that in 2016, Niti Aayog recommended `5,000 crore for Mission Kakatiya and `19,205 crore for Mission Bhagiratha schemes taken up by the State government. But, not even a single rupee was released by the Centre to these two schemes, Rao alleged.