'For Sake Of State': Mamata Banerjee To Attend Niti Aayog Meeting

Deviating from the stand taken by her counterparts belonging to other parties in the INDIA alliance, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said she will attend the Niti Aayog general council meeting on Saturday because it is in the interest of her state, adding that she will raise the issues of all opposition-ruled states.

The Niti Aayog general council meeting is one of the few forums where state chief ministers get to meet not just the Prime Minister, who presides over the gathering, but also Union ministers.

The Trinamool Congress chief arrived in Delhi on Friday amid speculation about her cancelling her visit and skipping the Niti Aayog meeting in line with chief ministers of Congress-ruled states and others like Punjab's Bhagwant Mann, Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan and Tamil Nadu's MK Stalin. 

Stating that she had cancelled, but reconsidered on the advice of senior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee, who is also her nephew, the Bengal chief minister said the Union Budget had been brazenly politicised. 

"They say the Budget shows cooperative federalism, but it is biased politicisation. The Budget is total deprivation of states. You can give some special package to your friends but you can't deprive opposition states completely," she asserted, adding that states have to be empowered.

"Centre should only have external affairs, defence and internal security. Finance (is something) they have destroyed," she claimed. 

'Scrap Niti Aayog'

Ms Banerjee said that, during the meeting, she would raise the issue of West Bengal "not getting anything" in the Budget as well as the Rs 1.71 lakh crore her government claims the Centre owes the state. She also said it was time the Niti Aayog was scrapped and the Planning Commission was brought back.

"It (Niti Aayog) has no financial implications... The Planning Commission had worked well for India since Independence. It was mooted by Subhash Chandra Bose," she said. 

On being asked if she was part of the opposition INDIA bloc, she said she was at the national level but the alliance was not needed in the state. "Trinamool Congress is enough to fight the BJP in West Bengal. Nationally, we are with INDIA," she said.

In the Lok Sabha elections, she said the Congress had gained in states where regional parties are strong and credit should be given to both. She also predicted that, in the upcoming Assembly elections, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction, which is an INDIA ally, will win in Maharashtra, Congress will emerge victorious in Haryana and Hemant Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha would remain the Jharkhand chief minister. 

On Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is in prison in the liquor policy case, she said she was very concerned about him and others "targeted" by the BJP-ruled government at the Centre. "Only agencies and conspiracies cannot give you political results," she said.

Ms Banerjee also met Mr Kejriwal's wife, Sunita, on Friday evening.