Kejriwal to skip Niti Aayog meeting over Delhi services ordinance issue

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that he will skip the Niti Aayog Governing Council meeting, scheduled to be held on Saturday (May 27) over the Centre's recent ordinance on control of services in Delhi.

The ordinance brought recently by the BJP-led central government has taken back the elected Delhi government's executive control over the bureaucracy that was earlier given to it by the Supreme Court through its verdict on May 11.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Delhi CM sought to know "what is the point of attending NITI Aayog meeting when cooperative federalism is a joke."

"People are asking, if the prime minister doesn't abide by the Supreme Court, then where will people go for justice," he said in the letter.

The Niti Aayog meeting is expected to deliberate on several issues, including, health, skill development, women empowerment and infrastructure development, with an aim to make India a developed nation by 2047.

The council, the apex body of Niti Aayog, includes all chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories, and several Union ministers.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann too will not attend the meeting, to be chaired by PM Modi, to protest the alleged discrimination against the state by the Centre over the issue of grant of funds.