Congress CMs skipping Niti Aayog meeting 'unwarranted': BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday said that it is unfortunate and unwarranted that Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states decided to skip the meeting of the Niti Aayog chairedd by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said that Prime Minister Modi had tried every possible step to accommodate the interests of all the states.

"It is very unfortunate that Chief Ministers belonging to Congress Party are not attending the Niti Aayog meeting today which is being chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From the day he took office of the Prime Minister, Modi ji tried every possible step to accommodate interests of all the state governments and he unveiled the principle of team India to strengthen the federal structure of the country to allow the state governments and the Chief Ministers to have a greater say in national policy making," he told ANI.

He further said that the Congress leaders have decided to skip the meeting for 'petty political reasons'.

"But for petty political reasons, if the Congress leaders have decided not to attend the meeting, it is highly unfortunate, it is an action which is highly unwarranted and unbecoming of a political party," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day chaired a meeting of the Niti Aayog at his official 7, Race Course Road residence here.

However, the Chief Ministers of the nine Congress-led states skipped the meeting. Akhilesh Yadav of Uttar Pradesh and Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal were also not present at the meeting.