Mamata Banerjee Attends Key NITI Aayog Meeting Chaired By PM Modi Despite Boycott By Other INDI Alliance Leaders

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (27 July) chaired the NITI Aayog's ninth Governing Council meeting.

This NITI Aayog meeting focused on “making India a developed nation by 2047” by addressing various development issues and policy matters. 

The NITI Aayog, which is the the central government's premier public policy think tank, comprises the Prime Minister as Chairman, Chief Ministers of all states, Lieutenant Governors of various Union Territories, and several union ministers as its members.

BJP-ruled state Chief Ministers were reportedly directed to participate in the meeting and present their government's key achievements before Prime Minister Modi.

Meanwhile, several Opposition Chief Ministers, such as Tamil Nadu's MK Stalin, Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan, Punjab's Bhagwant Mann, and the Congress Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, and Telangana—Siddaramaiah, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, and Revanth Reddy—announced to boycott the crucial NITI Aayog meeting.

Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy also did not attend the meeting.

However, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is a part of the Opposition INDIA bloc, also took part in the meeting.

Banerjee said on Friday (26 July) that there was no “coordination” among parties of the INDIA bloc on boycotting the meeting, but asserted that she would be the Opposition’s voice at the meeting, Indian Express reported.

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