KCR to boycott NITI Aayog meeting on Sunday, calls it useless in letter to PM
The Niti Aayog was started while recognising the fact that strong states make a strong nation, KCR said, adding, however, that the Centre's actions show that the initiative has gone astray as states are not included as equal partners in the national developmental agenda.
FollowTelangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao will skip Sunday's Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog, stating that the meeting would not be useful.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, KCR said he would boycott the 7th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog as a mark of strong protest against the Centre's 'discriminating' trend towards states.
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The nation can develop only when states develop, KCR told Prime Minister, adding that only economically vibrant and strong states can make the country strong.
KCR further claimed that the Centre was not treating states as equal partners in the collective effort to make the nation strong and developed.
Stating that a realisation had emerged from recent unpleasant happenings that the federal structure is being systematically eroded by some of the Centre's 'deliberate actions', the Telangana Chief Minister said the blatant discrimination against some states even in legitimate functions assigned to them in the Constitution leaves much to be desired.
Targetting the Niti Aayog, KCR wrote to Prime Minister Modi that though the NITI Aayog had constituted a group of Chief Ministers in the beginning to give recommendations on developmental issues, the panel was kept aside, and the Centre is micromanaging schemes ignoring state-specific needs.
Centre has also turned Nelson's eye even to the recommendations of NITI Aayog itself, KCR said.
Citing an instance, KCR pointed out that even though there were recommendations from NITI Aayog for a grant of Rs 5,000 crore to Mission Kakatiya and Central assistance of Rs 19,205 to Mission Bhagiratha, the NDA government did not release any money for the schemes. However, the state government has completed both projects on its own.
These examples, KCR said, were sufficient to conclude that the institution of NITI Aayog is rendered useless.
The Niti Aayog was started while recognising the fact that strong states make a strong nation, KCR said, adding, however, that the Centre's actions show that the initiative has gone astray as states are not included as equal partners in the national developmental agenda.
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