The Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab government has decided that chief minister Bhagwant Mann will not attend the NITI Aayog meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 27, expressing solidarity with the INDIA bloc. This decision follows claims from opposition parties that the Union Budget presented on July 23 was “discriminatory” and failed to allocate adequate funds for states ruled by non-NDA parties.
AAP Punjab announced that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will boycott the NITI Aayog meeting and will not attend on July 27. Accusations of unfair treatment in the budget towards INDIA bloc-ruled states prompted this move. Other chief ministers from the INDIA bloc, except West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, have also decided to boycott the meeting.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin first announced the boycott in Chennai. Following his announcement, the Congress stated that its chief ministers, including Himachal Pradesh’s Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah, and Telangana’s Revanth Reddy, would also skip the meeting.
Along with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan are also expected to miss the meeting.
However, reports indicate that Mamata Banerjee and TMC’s Derek O’Brien will attend the NITI Aayog meeting and use the platform to hold the Union government accountable for Bengal’s legitimate dues.
Addressing the Telangana Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy announced that his government would boycott the NITI Aayog meeting on July 27 to protest against what he described as the central government’s alleged injustice to the state in fund allocation.
“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 stated in the Assembly.
Reddy also criticized the previous BRS government in the state and challenged former CM K Chandrashekar Rao to join him in a Deeksha protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi for Telangana’s benefit. This challenge came after heated discussions in the Assembly about the alleged discrimination against Telangana in the Union Budget.
Meanwhile, discussions on the Union Budget 2024-25, presented on July 23, will continue in both Houses of Parliament on Thursday. The budget for Jammu and Kashmir for 2024-25, which was also presented on Tuesday, will also be discussed today.
Union Ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Jitendra Singh, Arjun Ram Meghwal, and Kirtivardhan Singh will present papers in Parliament today. Both Houses of Parliament began discussions on the Union Budget 2024 on July 24, with opposition parties criticizing it as “discriminatory” to most states and lacking vision.
Former Finance Minister and Congress MP P Chidambaram initiated the discussion in Rajya Sabha, while Congress MP Kumari Selja commenced the discussion in Lok Sabha. Chidambaram highlighted four significant challenges, noting that the most pressing is unemployment. According to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the unemployment rate for June 2024 stands at 9.2 percent.
Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee criticized the Modi government, asserting that the Union Budget lacks clarity and vision. He alleged that the budget was designed to satisfy BJP’s coalition partners and claimed, “it was planned by two individuals to keep another two in good faith.”
The budget session of Parliament began on July 22 and is scheduled to conclude on August 12.
