West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee walked out Niti Aayog meeting on Saturday and said she wasn’t allowed sufficient time to speak despite being the only opposition leader to attend the meeting.
Addressing presspersons, Banerjee said, “I was allowed to speak only for five minutes while those before me spoke for 15-20 minutes. The mic was muted as I was speaking.” Mamata said the Centre should not discriminate against state governments and she was stopped despite being the only opposition leader to be attending the meeting. “I was the only one from the opposition who was participating but still, I was not allowed to speak. This is insulting,” the Trinamool Congress chief said. She said it was an insult not only to West Bengal but to all regional parties.
Chief ministers of several opposition-ruled states including Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy and Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann boycotted the meeting alleging the budget was discriminatory towards non-BJP ruled states. Mamata Banerjee confirmed her attendance in the meeting on Friday and had said she would walk out of the meeting if she wasn’t allowed to speak.