Mamata Banerjee Snubs NITI Aayog Meet Days Before PM Modi's West Bengal Visit

Kolkata: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to West Bengal scheduled next week, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday had skipped Niti Aayog meeting.

After coming out from the Niti Aayog meeting last year, Mamata stated that she was not allowed to speak for over 5 minutes in the last meeting while others were given at least 15 minutes to speak.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) vice president Jai Prakash Majumdar questioned whether the Chief Minister will attend the meeting to get insulted again?

“Last year it was proved that the central government doesn’t want to listen to the West Bengal Chief Minister for which her microphone was stopped in between her speech. Will she attend the same meeting to get insulted again?” questioned Majumdar.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) however, have criticised the move and mentioned Mamata’s claim to a ‘baseless allegation’.

“The Chief Minister didn’t attend the meeting to satisfy her political ego. Instead she should have attended the meeting for the benefit of the state and people. She should work together with the central government. Migrant workers and financial instability are the major setbacks of West Bengal. She could have discussed the same if she had attended the meeting,” said BJP Rajya Sabha MP and spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya.