'Unfortunate, allegations incorrect': NITI Aayog after KCR decides to skip think tank's meet

New Delhi: The NITI Aayog on Saturday called Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s decision to skip its meeting on Sunday as unfortunate and sought to counter some of the allegations levelled by the TRS chief.

Rao, on Saturday, announced that he will not attend a meeting of the NITI Aayog on Sunday, saying that the Centre's think tank and its meetings serve "no constructive purpose" and that participating chief ministers are given "hardly a few minutes" to express their views.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the seventh governing council meeting of the NITI Aayog on Sunday. PM’s office said that the meeting will pave the way for a new era of collaboration between the Centre and the states.

In a statement, the Centre’s think tank said it said a delegation led by its vice-chairperson had met the Telangana CM in Hyderabad last year “to discuss development issues pertaining to the state”, but he "did not respond" to recent requests for more such meetings.

“A number of measures already in place to work closely with states. Last year, over 30 meetings held with Chief Ministers. A delegation also met with Telangana CM in Hyderabad last year. Recently, despite requests for a meeting, CM did not respond,” it said

“It's unfortunate that Telangana CM chose not to participate in Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog. Governing Council is a forum where highest political leadership deliberate on development-related issues and agree on appropriate solutions for national development,” it added.

The NITI Aayog also refuted as “incorrect” KCR’s allegation that states were not co-opted in preparation of the Sunday meeting agenda.

“Detailed consultations between Centre and states, including Telangana, were held resulting in the first National Chief Secretaries Conference held in Dharamshala in June 2022,” its statement said.

In a strongly-worded letter to PM Modi, Rao, often referred to by his initials KCR, said, "I do not find it useful to attend the 7th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog scheduled to be held on August 7, 2022 and I am staying away from it as a mark of strong protest against the present trend of Central government to discriminate against the states and not treating them as equal partners in our collective effort to make India a strong and developed country."

This will be the first in-person meeting of the council after July 2019 and its members include all the chief ministers. The PM is the chairperson of the government's apex policy think tank.

KCR said that when Planning Commission was there, it used to have a detailed interactive discussion with the states on the annual plan but now there is “neither a plan, nor any involvement of states”.

“The rigmarole of NITI Aayog meetings leave little scope for a meaningful dialogue, as participating Chief Ministers are given hardly a few minutes to speak and express their views, thereby not giving any scope to discuss anything in detail,” he added.

The Telangana CM further said that because of “no planning and no spirit of cooperative federalism”, the country is passing through a most difficult phase with unprecedented problems of falling rupee value, high inflation, skyrocketing prices and increasing unemployment coupled with low economic growth.

“These issues impact people's lives and are causing a lot of concern to the nation. But these are not discussed in NITI Aayog meetings. I find the Union Government a silent spectator to this emerging serious scenario, often resorting to jugglery of words playing on people's emotions,” he said in his four-page letter.