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Bhagwant Mann to skip NITI Aayog meeting amid AAP’s tussle with Centre
Amid the ongoing tussle between Aam Aadmi Party and BJP-led central government, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann has decided to skip the governing council meeting of NITI Aayog on Saturday
Amid the ongoing tussle between Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and BJP-led central government, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann has decided to skip the governing council meeting of NITI Aayog on Saturday.
Mann has decided to stay away from the eighth governing council meeting of NITI Aayog to protest against the alleged discrimination against the state by the Centre in the grant of funds. The central government is ignoring the interests of Punjab and has not been paying attention to issues related to farmers, people familiar with the development said on Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will preside over the meeting, themed Viksit Bharat @ 2047: Role Team India, to be held in Delhi. The meeting will focus on key issues such as health, women’s empowerment, and infrastructure development.
AAP’s state chief spokesperson, Malvinder Singh Kang said that the CM has decided to boycott the meeting because the central government is discriminating against the state. “The Centre has withheld Rural Development Fee (RDF) amounting to ₹4,000 crore, reduced the RDF rate, stopped mandi tax, delayed goods and services tax (GST) compensation, and shifted some sanctioned projects to other states,” he claimed.
Kang said that Mann had met Union home minister Amit Shah and Union food and public distribution minister Piyush Goyal in the past and requested for release of the outstanding RDF. The AAP and the BJP-led central government have been at loggerheads over several issues with the Centre’s ordinance on services in Delhi being the latest flashpoint. In August 2022, Mann attended the NITI Aayog meeting and raised issues related to RDF and farmers.
