Congress CMs to boycott NITI Aayog meeting due to ‘discriminatory’ Union Budget: KC Venugopal

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, a Congress ally, will also skip the meeting, and for the same reason.

Published on: Jul 23, 2024, 22:14:27 IST

By HT News Desk, New Delhi

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The chief ministers from Congress-ruled states will not attend this week's NITI Aayog meeting, senior party leader KC Venugopal has announced.

INDIA bloc leaders met at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's residence (Courtesy: x.com/kcvenugopalmp)

This, Venugopal said, was because the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, ‘discriminated’ against opposition-run states in the Union Budget, tabled by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday.

Also Read: Opposition slams Budget, Rahul Gandhi calls it ‘Kursi Bachao’ exercise

“The Union Budget presented today was extremely discriminatory and dangerous, which completely goes against the principles of federalism and fairness that the Union Government must follow. In protest, INC (Indian National Congress) CMs will be boycotting the NITI Aayog meeting scheduled for July 27th,” the Congress general secretary wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Further, the Lok Sabha member from Kerala's Alappuzha, called the NITI Aayog programme an ‘event solely designed to hide the true, discriminatory colours of this regime.’

Also Read: The budget echoes the Developed India vision

The grand old party has chief ministers in three states: Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (Himachal Pradesh), Siddaramaiah (Karnataka) and Revanth Reddy (Telangana).

Meanwhile, Venugopal, the Congress general secretary, also stated that the party-led opposition INDIA bloc, will protest in the Parliament and outside, over ‘discrimination’ in the Union Budget against states with non-BJP/NDA governments.

“The concept of a budget has been destroyed this year. So, the general sentiment of the INDIA bloc meeting was that we have to protest against this,” he told reporters after the meeting, which was held at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

Also Read: Budget 2024’s botched borrowing of ideas leaves India without the impetus it needs

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, who heads the DMK, a member of the INDIA group, also declared that he will skip the Niti Aayog event, and for the same reason as the Congress.

Saturday's conference will be chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi.

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