After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's walkout of its 9th Governing Council meeting, NITI Aayog CEO clarified the incident by "putting facts on the ground".
"The chief minister of West Bengal had made a request to be given a turn before lunchtime...It was a very clear request from their side because normally we would have gone alphabetically. So it begins with Andhra Pradesh, then Arunachal Pradesh...We actually adjusted and the Defence Minister actually called her in just before Gujarat. So she made her statement," NITI Aayog CEO B.V.R. Subrahmanyam was quoted by ANI.
Also Read | Mamata walks out of Niti Aayog meeting, says ‘mic was turned off after 5 minutes'
He also added that every CM speaks for an allotted seven minutes and there's just a clock on top of the screen which tells you the time that is remaining.
"So it goes from seven to six to five to four to three. At the end of that, it shows zero. Zero.Nothing else. Nothing else has happened other than that...Then she said look, I would have liked to speak for more time, but I'll not speak anymore. That was it," he said.
I'm just putting the facts on the ground, there are no interpretations, he added.
It was also noted that the chief secretary continued to attend the meeting and he was in the room even after she left to catch a flight to Calcutta.
On the contrary, Banerjee alleged that she was only allowed to speak for five minutes while those before her spoke for 15-20 minutes. “The mic was muted as I was speaking,” she said.
“I was the only one from the opposition who was participating but still, I was not allowed to speak. This is insulting,” she added. She also alleged that the Centre should not discriminate against state governments.
Meanwhile, Congress slammed NITI Aayog's treatment towards Mamata Banerjee and termed it as "unacceptable". Congress also alleged that it has been "blatantly partisan" in its functioning and dissenting viewpoints.
दस साल पहले स्थापित होने के बाद से, नीति आयोग PMO का एक अटैचड ऑफिस रहा है। यह नॉन-बायोलॉजिकल प्रधानमंत्री के लिए ढोल पीटने वाले तंत्र के रूप में काम करता है।
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) July 27, 2024
किसी भी रूप में इसने सहकारी संघवाद को मज़बूत नहीं किया है। इसका काम करने का तरीक़ा स्पष्ट रूप से पक्षपात से भरा रहा है।…
The meeting, chaired by PM Modi, was boycotted by Congress party chief ministers over alleged discrimination against non-NDA-ruled states in the Union Budget.
"Since it was established ten years ago, NITI Aayog has been an attached office of the PMO and has functioned as a drumbeater for the non-biological PM," said Congress general secretary, in-charge communications, Jairam Ramesh.
He also added, "Its functioning has been blatantly partisan, and it is anything but professional and independent." "It muzzles all divergent and dissenting viewpoints, which are the very essence of an open democracy. Its meetings are a farce to be reckoned with."
Meanwhile, the BJP criticised Banerjee's walkout and said it was "premeditated". "Mamata Banerjee’s walkout from NITI Aayog meeting was premeditated for the cameras. It is sad to see a chief minister reduce serious issues of governance to theatrics. People of West Bengal are suffering as a consequence of her confrontational politics,” said Amit Malviya, head of BJP’s IT cell.
Chief ministers of the INDIA bloc, M.K. Stalin (DMK) of Tamil Nadu, Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan (CPI-M), Punjab's Bhagwant Mann (Aam Aadmi Party), Siddaramaiah (Congress) of Karnataka, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (Congress) of Himachal Pradesh, A Revanth Reddy (Congress) of Telangana, and Jharkhand's Hemant Soren (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), skipped the NITI Aayog meeting.
