Mamata walks out of NITI Aayog meeting

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee walked out of the NITI Aayog meeting on Saturday, saying she was stopped from speaking “after just five minutes”. She also criticised the Union Budget for 2024-25, calling it “biased”.

“I came to boycott the meeting. (Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister) Chandrababu Naidu was given 20 minutes to speak. Chief ministers of Assam, Goa and Chhattisgarh spoke for 10-12 minutes. I was stopped from speaking after only five minutes. This is unfair. From the opposition side, I was the only one here. I attended the meeting because cooperative federalism needs to be strengthened.”

“Even the budget… It is a political budget, biased. I said, why are you discriminating against other states? NITI Aayog has no financial powers, how will it work? Give it financial powers or bring back the Planning Commission,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo told reporters after coming out of the meeting.