Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) skipped the Niti Aayog governing council meeting on Sunday, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The meeting was attended by 23 chief ministers, three Lieutenant Governors and two Administrators and Union ministers. This was the first physical meeting of the governing council since the onset of the pandemic, with the 2021 meeting held via video conferencing.
While Kumar clarified that he decided not to attend the meeting as he recently recovered from Covid-19 and wants to avoid travel, KCR skipped it as a mark of protest against the Centre.
This is the fourth Central meeting that Kumar skipped since July 17, amid rumours of tiff with the BJP and his party the JD(U). Among the meetings that he skipped are the farewell dinner to outgoing president Ram Nath Kovind, hosted by PM, and the swearing-in ceremony of Droupadi Murmu as President.
Kumar, however, sought to downplay him not attending the Niti Aayog event and asserted "all is well" between his party and the BJP. He said he decided to stay away only due to post-Covid debility.
Rao had announced his decision to boycott the meaning on Saturday, saying he is skipping it to protest against the 'discriminating' trend of the Centre towards states. In a letter to Modi, KCR said the country can develop only when states develop. Strong and economically vibrant states alone can make the nation strong, he said.
Meanwhile, addressing the meeting, PM Modi made a strong case for modernising the farm sector by using technology so that India can become self-sufficient and a global leader in the agriculture sector.
He said the rapid urbanisation can become India's strength instead of weakness by leveraging technology to ensure ease of living, transparent service delivery, and improvement in the quality of life.
The PM also spoke about India's upcoming presidency of the G-20 in 2023, and asked the states to set up dedicated teams for G-20 with a view to deriving maximum possible benefit from the initiative.
The governing council discussed four key agenda items—crop diversification and achieving self-sufficiency in pulses, oilseeds and other agri-commodities; implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) in school education; implementation of NEP in higher education; and urban governance.
—With PTI inputs
