New Delhi, Jul 27, 2024, Special Correspondent

New Delhi, Jul 27: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the NITI Aayog Governing Council in Saturday to draw blueprint of making India a developed nation by 2047, but West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appeared to steal the show by staging a sudden walkout, alleging that her mike was switched off midway in her speech.

 

The meeting was boycotted by states ruled by INDIA bloc parties except West Bengal. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, an ally of BJP-led NDA, too skipped the meeting. Bihar was represented by deputy chief ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha.

 

Modi in his address called upon the states to take advantage of technological and geo-political changes to make India a developed nation by 2047 and asked the states to make policies that are conducive to attracting international investments.

 

NITI Aayog in a series of posts on X said the Prime Minister emphasised the need to make India a developed nation by 2047 and states can play an active role in achieving this aim as they are directly connected with the people.

 

The council, the apex body of NITI Aayog, includes all state chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories, and several Union ministers. Prime Minister Modi is the chairman of NITI Aayog.

 

However, chief ministers of the INDIA bloc, Stalin (DMK), Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan (CPI-M), Punjab's Bhagwant Mann (Aam Aadmi Party), Congress's Siddaramaiah (Karnataka), Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (Himachal Pradesh), Revanth Reddy (Telangana), and Jharkhand's Hemant Soren (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), skipped the meeting.

 

Opposition parties have alleged that the states ruled by them have been ignored in the Union Budget presented recently in the Lok Sabha.

 

The Congress said the treatment meted out to her at the meeting was "unacceptable".

State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, however, dismissed it as a  'scripted' move to attract media attention.

 

The opposition BJP in West Bengal, however, criticised Banerjee, calling it a "drama" intended to gain political advantage.

 

Banerjee claimed her microphone was switched off after only five minutes, while other chief ministers including from Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Assam and Chhattisgarh, were allowed to speak for longer durations.

 

"This is insulting. I will not attend any further meeting," the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo told reporters after walking out of the governing council meeting of the central government's public policy think-tank.

 

The government, however, refuted her claim and said Banerjee's speaking time was over.

 

Meanwhile, PIB Factcheck, in a post on X, said it is "misleading" to say that Banerjee's microphone was switched off. "The clock only showed that her speaking time was over," it said.