Unfortunate: NITI Aayog on KCR boycotting General Council meeting

The General Council is the apex body of NITI Aayog, and PM Narendra Modi chaired the seventh Governing Council meeting at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre. This is the first physical meeting of the Council after July 2019.
Telangana CM KCR speaking into a mic
Telangana CM KCR speaking into a mic
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The apex public policy think tank of India NITI Aayog, on Saturday, August 6, termed Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's decision to boycott the Governing Council meeting held on Sunday as 'unfortunate'. Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to boycott the meeting of the Governing Council, which will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as a mark of protest against the alleged discriminatory policies of the Union government towards the states.

"It is unfortunate that the Chief Minister of Telangana has chosen not to participate in the Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog to be held on August 7," the Aayog said. The Governing Council, it added, is a forum where the highest political leadership in the country at the Center and State levels deliberate on key development-related issues and agree on appropriate outcome oriented solutions for national development.

The Telangana Chief Minister on Saturday told the Prime Minister that he will be boycotting the meeting as a mark of protest against the present 'discriminating' trend of the Union government towards the state governments. In a strongly-worded letter to Modi, Telangana CM KCR said, “India as a strong nation can develop only when the states develop.”

KCR also listed a host of reasons for boycotting the meet. “I do not find it useful to attend the 7th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog scheduled to be held on August 7, 2022 and I am staying away from it as a mark of strong protest against the present trend of central government to discriminate against the states and not treating them as equal partners in our collective effort to make India a strong and developed country,” he added.

NITI Aayog in a statement dismissed the charges levelled by KCR. The Aayog said a delegation led by its Vice Chairman met the Telangana Chief Minister in Hyderabad on January 21, 2021, to discuss development issues pertaining to the state. "More recently, despite requests made by NITI Aayog for a meeting, the Chief Minister did not respond," it added.

The statement pointed out that in preparation for the August 7, 2022, Governing Council meeting, detailed consultations between the Union government and States, including Telangana, were held resulting in the first National Chief Secretaries Conference held in Dharamshala in June 2022. "The allegation of Hon'ble CM Telangana that states were not co-opted in preparation of agenda is incorrect," it said.

The statement noted that NITI Aayog was set up as an Institution with the mandate of cooperative federalism with a premise that strong states make a strong nation. "A number of measures have already been put in place to work closely with states," it said, adding that in the last year alone more than 30 meetings have been held with the chief ministers of states by the Vice Chairman, and members of NITI Aayog.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the seventh Governing Council meeting of the NITI Aayog at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre on Sunday, in which discussions will be held on various issues such as crop diversification and implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP). The Council, the apex body of NITI Aayog, includes all chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories and several Union ministers. The prime minister is the Chairman of NITI Aayog. This will be the first physical meeting of the Council after July 2019.

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