Telangana Min KTR targets NITI Aayog again; says 'PM, Cabinet disregard advice of CMs'

Even as the 7th governing council meeting of the NITI Aayog was underway in Delhi between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Ministers of states, Telangana Minister KTR hit out at the advisory body on Sunday. 

Taking to Twitter, the son of Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao claimed that though NITI Aayog was formed with great pomp a few years ago, neither the PM nor his Cabinet paid heed to the advice and showed utter "contempt and disregard" for the CMs.

Notably, Telangana CM KCR has skipped the NITI Aayog meeting in protest over the present trend of the Central government "discriminating" against states and "not treating them as equal partners".

KCR skips NITI Aayog meet

In a letter to PM Modi, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief underlined that "though NITI Aayog started with the objective of bringing the states together with the Centre, the recent unpleasant happenings have given rise to a realisation that the federal structure is being systematically eroded by some deliberate actions by the Government."

"With much pain and anguish, let me point out that such an important recommendation has been kept aside, and on the contrary, I find the Centre micro-managing the schemes, giving a complete go-by to State-specific needs which are best left to individuals states," KCR wrote, adding that not just in the case of such schemes, the Centre has turned a 'Nelson's eye' to aforementioned NITI Aayog's recommendations.

Barring Telangana Chief Minister KCR and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, all heads of state are present at the brainstorming session. 

The last meeting of the Governing Council was held in July 2019 and in 2020, the annual meeting was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting is attended by Chief Ministers of all the States and Union Territories, legislators, Lt Governors of UTs, Ex-Officio Members, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, Full-Time Members of NITI Aayog, and Union Ministers as Special Invitees. The Prime Minister is the chairperson of the government's apex policy think tank.