Chandigarh (Punjab): The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Punjab government, while expressing solidarity with the INDIA bloc has decided that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will not attend the Niti Aayog meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 27.
The decision came on Wednesday after the opposition parties claimed that the Union Budget presented on July 23 was "discriminatory" as it did not allocate enough funds for the state ruled by non-NDA parties. AAP Punjab said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will boycott the NITI Aayog meeting and will not be present to attend it on July 27.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh said, "What is the point of the Niti Aayog meeting when there is no policy and provision in the budget for states ruled by opposition parties? The central government has neglected Delhi and Punjab and that is why the Chief Minister of Punjab Bhagwant Mann and atishi will not attend the meeting."
Accusing discriminatory treatment towards the INDIA bloc ruled states in the budget, barring West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, all the INDIA bloc chief ministers have decided to boycott the NITI Aayog meeting.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin first announced the boycott in Chennai. Following this, the Congress said its chief ministers, including Himachal Pradesh's Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, Karnataka's Siddaramaiah and Telangana's Revanth Reddy, would skip the meeting.
Along with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan are also expected to give the meeting a miss. However, as per reports, Mamata Banerjee and TMC's Derek O'Brien will attend the meeting and "strongly use the platform to hold the Union government responsible" for Bengal's legitimate dues.
Addressing the Telangana Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy said that his government would boycott the NITI Aayog meeting scheduled for July 27 in protest against the central government's alleged injustice to the state in the allocation of funds in the Union Budget.
"As a mark of protest against the Central Government, we, the Telangana Government, are boycotting the NITI Aayog meeting to be held on July 27th. The Centre has violated the rights of Telangana. There is injustice to the state in the allocation of funds," Reddy said in the Assembly.
The Telangana CM also lashed out at the previous BRS government in the state and asked if former CM K Chandrashekar Rao would address a Deeksha protest along with him for the benefit of the Telangana state at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. This came in as a response to a challenge made by BRS leaders KT Rama Rao and Harish Rao during a heated discussion in the Assembly about Telangana's discrimination in the Union Budget.
Meanwhile, the discussion on the Union Budget 2024-25, presented on July 23, will continue in both Houses of Parliament on Thursday. The discussion on the budget of Jammu and Kashmir, 2024-25, which was also presented on Tuesday, will also continue today.
Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Jitendra Singh, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Kirtivardhan Singh will lay papers on the table today. Both Houses of Parliament took up discussion on the Union Budget 2024 on July 24, with opposition parties accusing it of being "discriminatory" to most states and lacking vision.
The discussion was initiated by former Finance Minister and Congress MP P Chidambaram in Rajya Sabha and Congress MP Kumari Selja initiated the discussion in Lok Sabha. Raising four major challenges, Chidambaram said the most significant challenge is unemployment and data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) indicates that the unemployment rate for June 2024 is 9.2 per cent.
Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee launched a strong attack on the Modi government, alleging that the Union Budget lacks clarity or vision, that it has been rolled out to satisfy the coalition partners of the BJP and that it "was planned by two individuals to keep another two in good faith." The budget session of Parliament began on July 22 and, according to schedule, will end on August 12.
