Mamata to skip NITI Aayog Meet
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that she will not attend a meeting of the NITI Aayog next week as government think tank has "no power to help states". "Given that the NITI Aaayog has no financial powers and the power to support state plans, it is fruitless for me to attend the meeting," Ms Banerjee wrote in an unsigned letter, addressed to PM Modi. PM Modi will chair the fifth meeting of NITI Aayog's Governing Council on June 15 where he will discuss various development issues. In her letter, the 64-year-old leader said decision to replace the NITI Aayog with Planning Commission was taken without holding a discussion with states. "Since, the Planning Commission represented the federalist polity of the country with cooperative federalism in matters of the economy and allocation of resources as its goal, I was surprised by your unilateral announcement which was not preceded by any discussion with the Chief Ministers of the States for their views," Ms Banerjee wrote. She has skipped the NITI Aayog meetings earlier too.
