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Reacting to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's allegations of "political discrimination" at the NITI Aayog meeting, Union Minister Prahlad Joshi on Saturday said that he is not aware of the meeting details, adding that the "so-called INDI bloc" members are not able to digest the mandate of the people and are "crying foul."
"What has happened in the NITI Aayog meeting, I have not seen, I was travelling. I will verify that. I can only say that these so-called INDI bloc members, it is not at all an alliance because Mamata did not give a single seat to Congress in polls. What respect she gives to the Congress in West Bengal, everybody knows. But these parties are not able to digest the mandate of the people and are crying foul," Joshi told reporters. Meanwhile, JD (U) spokesperson KC Tyagi said that it is "unfortunate" that several CMs have boycotted the NITI Aayog meeting. "This is the organisation which solves the problem of the allocation of funds between the Central government and the state government. It safeguards the rights of the states. It is very unfortunate that several CMs have boycotted the NITI Aayog meeting, which is important for their state development," Tyagi said. Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged "political discrimination" at the NITI Aayog meeting held in the national capital stating that her microphone was muted and she was not allowed to speak for more than five minutes while other chief ministers were provided more time. "I said you (central government) should not discriminate against state governments. I wanted to speak but my mic was muted. I was allowed to speak only for 5 minutes. People before me spoke for 10-20 minutes," Banerjee told reporters after she stormed out of the NITI Aayog meeting today. "I was the only one from the opposition who was participating but still, I was not allowed to speak. This is insulting...," Banerjee said as she walked out mid way from the meeting. Before leaving for Delhi today, the All India Trinamool Congress Chairman said, "I will protest against the political discrimination being done with Bengal in the Niti Aayog meeting. In the budget, the way they have discriminated against Bengal and the other opposition states, we can't agree to that." Chief Ministers of opposition-led states including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Delhi and Punjab boycotted the NITI Aayog meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On Wednesday, Chief Ministers of Punjab and Telangana, Bhagwant Mann and Revanth Reddy said that their governments will boycott the NITI Aayog in protest against the central government alleged injustice to the states in the allocation of funds in the 2024 Union Budget. (ANI)
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