Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is indisposed and unlikely to attend Saturday’s meeting of the Niti Aayog’s governing council to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources said, adding that State Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal will attend the meeting in his place.
The Niti Aayog’s governing council meets regularly. This will be the sixth meeting of the government think tank’s apex body and the first after the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country.
“The Punjab chief minister is indisposed and is likely to skip the Niti Aayog’s meeting. The state finance minister will attend in his place,” sources close to Singh said.
The development comes in the backdrop of raging farmers’ protests which have swept the country for nearly three months now.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is also likely to give the meeting a miss. Banerjee had earlier skipped the Niti Aayog’s meetings and termed it as a “fruitless” exercise, alleging that the body has “no financial power” and cannot support the state plans.
The chief minister’s absence comes amid a heated war of words between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress over issues such as Netaji Subhas Chamdra Bose’s legacy, central schemes and their implementation as well as nepotism ahead of the assembly elections scheduled for April-May.
The prime minister will chair Saturday’s meeting wherein issues related to agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing and human resource development will be discussed, according to an official statement. The meeting will witness the entry of Ladakh, in addition to the participation of Jammu and Kashmir as a union territory, the statement said.
The Niti Aayog’s governing council includes all chief ministers, lieutenant governors of union territories, several Union ministers and senior government officials.
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