8 Opposition chief ministers to skip Niti Aayog meeting today. Here's why

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the eighth governing council meeting of Niti Aayog at the new Convention Centre in New Delhi's Pragati Maidan on Saturday. The theme of the meeting is ‘Viksit Bharat @2047: Role of Team India’

As many as eight chief ministers - Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi, Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, Bhagwant Mann of Punjab, Nitish Kumar of Bihar, K Chandrashekar Rao of Telangana, MK Stalin of Tamil Nadu, Ashok Gehlot Rajathan and Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala - decided not to attend the Niti Aayog meeting.

Here's why these CMs did not attending Niti Aayog meeting:

Arvind Kejriwal: In a letter to PM Modi, Kejriwal said he was “boycotting” the meeting in protest against the “undemocratic and unconstitutional” May 19 ordinance that restored control over services in the national capital to the Centre under the LG, effectively nullifying a Supreme Court order that handed over control of services, barring police, public order and land, to the elected government.

Mamata Banerjee: West Bengal will not have any representative at the Niti Aayog meeting as the TMC government's request to send the state finance minister and the chief secretary was "turned down" by the Centre, which "insisted" that Mamata Banerjee may attend the event. Banerjee has already decided not to attend the eighth governing council meeting of Niti Aayog.

State finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said Banerjee is busy with some other work, without elaborating the reason behind skipping the meet.

Nitish Kumar: Senior members of the Bihar cabinet said Nitish Kumar expressed his inability to attend because of “prior commitments”, and said they were yet to hear back from the Union government if someone else could take his place.

K Chandrashekar Rao: The Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) president and Telangana chief minister will also not attend the meeting since he has a scheduled meeting with Kejriwal in Hyderabad on Saturday. The meeting is part of a campaign by Kejriwal against the services ordinance for which he has been meeting leaders of Opposition parties asking for their support in blocking the ordinance when it comes in the form of a bill in Parliament.

MK Stalin: The Tamil Nadu chief minister is on a visit to Singapore and Japan and hence he won't be able to attend the meeting.

Bhagwant Mann: The Punjab chief minister will not attend the Niti Aayog meeting to protest the alleged discrimination against the state by the Centre over the issue of grant of funds. Aam Aadmi Party's Punjab unit chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said the chief minister has taken up with the Centre the demand to release ₹3,600 crore outstanding rural development fund (RDF), but the Centre has been sitting over it.

Ashok Gehlot: The Rajasthan CM has cited health reasons for not attending the meeting, news agency ANI reported.

Pinarayi Vijayan: The Kerala chief minister has not given any specific reason for his absence.

(With inputs from Bureau)