Mann says Niti Ayog Meetings are Inconsequential

HYDERABAD: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Saturday said meetings of Niti Ayog have turned into photo opportunities and little if anything comes from those meetings.

Speaking to reporters along with his Telangana state and Delhi counterparts, K. Chandrashekar Rao and Arvind Kejriwal, respectively, Mann said, “We did not attend today’s Niti Ayog meeting. What is the purpose other than it being an opportunity for some photo sessions? I sent a letter urging them to consider my last year’s speech for today’s meeting. There is no point in going. They do not give the funds that we seek. India is a bouquet with different flowers and fragrances and not just of one flower.”

Earlier in the day, addressing a separate press conference, Union minister G. Kishan Reddy said that Niti Ayog meetings represent a spirit of ‘Team India’ where the Centre and states work as a team. “Today’s agenda included discussions on the health sector, skilling, women’s empowerment and infrastructure development. The meeting was to discuss how India could become a developed country in the next 25 years,” he said.

“It is unfortunate that the Telangana state Chief Minister did not go. For someone who claims he wants to become ‘desh ka neta’, the least he could have done was to attend and see how important discussions are held,” Reddy said.