Niti Aayog will leave all power in PM hands: PMK chief

Chennai: NDA ally PMK on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi seemed to have achieved his ‘twin objectives’ of ensuring greater private interference in government affairs and wresting all authority to himself by replacing the Planning Commission with NITI Aayog. The new body did not have powers to allot funds to the states nor approve Central schemes and the Prime Minister’s decision will  be final in such matters, said PMK founder Dr S. Ramadoss in a statement here.

With Modi pitching for a private role in policy-making, there are chances that the new body can have a sizeable number of part-time or full-time members from the corporate sector, he said, adding that such members were generally opposed to subsidies, which could affect the education, health and agriculture sectors.“Besides, if all powers are vested with the Prime Minister, it will only pave the way for authoritarian rule... Overall, it seems the Prime Minister has brought about such a change to achieve his twin objectives of having a greater corporate role in government administration and wresting all authority,” he said.

The new measure will affect Centre-state relations, he claimed. While it was a fact that the Planning Commission had to be ‘reformed’, there was no need to completely replace it with a new body, Dr Ramadoss said, demanding that the government withdraw Niti Ayog and revert to a revamped Planning Commission.