Days after initial reports surfaced about West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee joining the NITI Aayog government council meeting, sources on Thursday indicated that the TMC supremo is now likely to skip the meeting, which is to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (July 27).
Sources said that since several Chief Ministers of opposition-ruled states, who are part of the INDIA bloc, confirmed they will not be participating in the meeting, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has also decided not to attend. However, they added that more details regarding this decision are still awaited.
It is pertinent to note that the speculation over the TMC supremo's absence from the NITI Aayog meeting comes after Banerjee, who was supposed to travel to Delhi today for a three-day visit and attend the meeting, did not embark on the trip. Further details are awaited to confirm whether she will travel tomorrow or not.
Meanwhile, apart from Mamata Banerjee, earlier on Wednesday (July 24), Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann too informed that he will not attend the Niti Aayog meeting. An AAP spokesperson said the party would stand with the INDIA bloc leaders, including Revanth Reddy (Telangana), Siddaramaiah (Karnataka), Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (Himachal Pradesh), and MK Stalin (Tamil Nadu), who will not attend the meeting.
“When the INDIA bloc decided to boycott the Niti Aayog meeting, the Punjab CM would also stay away from it. There is no point in taking a different line than the coalition,” the AAP spokesperson added.
(With inputs from Onkar Sarkar)
(This is a developing story. More details will be added)
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