Day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and his Karnataka counterpart Siddaramaiah, Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday said his government has decided to boycott the NITI Aayog meeting to be held on July 27. The meeting will be presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Reddy asserted the boycott would be marked as a protest against the Centre allegedly “hurting” Telangana’s rights and not releasing funds due to it. He announced the government’s decision in the Legislative Assembly.
“Prime Minister is the chairman of NITI Aayog. NITI Aayog meeting would be held on (July) 27th under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji. As Chief Minister of Telangana, (I am) boycotting the NITI Aayog meeting for hurting Telangana’s interests, not releasing the funds due to Telangana and for not giving the permissions due to be given to Telangana,” Reddy said.
The Assembly passed a resolution against the Centre’s alleged discrimination towards the state in the Union Budget after a day-long debate. However, the Opposition BJP opposed the resolution in the House.
Earlier, Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said his government had decided to boycott the NITI Aayog as a mark of protest against the “neglect” of the state’s demands in the Union Budget. He said there is no point in attending the NITI Aayog meeting, as Kannadigas are not heard.
“Despite my earnest efforts in calling for an all-party MPs meeting in New Delhi to discuss Karnataka’s essential needs, he deplored that the Union Budget has neglected our state’s demands.” “Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who also attended the meeting, has ignored the concerns of the people of Karnataka. We don’t feel that Kannadigas are heard, and hence there is no point in attending the NITI Aayog meeting,” he posted on social media platform X.
Toeing the same line, Stalin also said Tamil Nadu has been completely ignored in the Union Budget and to condemn it, he said he will boycott the July 27 NITI Aayog meet in Delhi. Terming the budget a big disappointment, the Chief Minister said he felt that it is appropriate to boycott the NITI Aayog meet, since the Centre has totally ignored Tamil Nadu. DMK MPs staged a protest in Delhi on July 24 over the Union Budget.
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said that Congress chief minister of Himachal Pradesh Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu also will not be attending the meeting. However, other opposition chief ministers Mamata Banarjee of West Bengal and P Vijayan of Kerala are yet to confirm on their attending the meeting.