Planning Commission was more effective, should be brought back: Mamata

Hours after declining the NITI Aayog's invitation to attend a meeting of its Governing Council to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the earlier Planning Commission was more effective and should be brought back.

"The same letter (informing about a meeting of the Governing Council of the NITI Aayog on June 15) was given to me earlier. Planning Commission was more effective than the NITI Aayog. It would have been more successful. Planning Commission should be brought back," Banerjee told reporters here.

"There is no opportunity to speak of a federal structure. There is no power, just show off. Planning Commission should be brought back," she said.

Earlier in the day, Banerjee wrote a letter to the Prime Minister stating that NITI Aayog has no financial powers to support the state-run schemes and it is fruitless for her to attend the meeting.

On June 15, the first meeting of the Niti Aayog's Governing Council will take place after Modi returned to power. The Governing Council is the apex body of the Aayog and includes all Chief Ministers, Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories, several Union Ministers and senior government officials as members.

The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog was formed via a resolution of the Union Cabinet on January 1, 2015, replacing the Planning Commission which was instituted in 1950.

When asked if poll strategist Prashant Kishor will work for her party, the TMC chief said, "I won't speak on Prashant Kishor, it is an internal issue."

Kishor is credited with scripting electoral victories of BJP in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Mahagathbandhan in Bihar Assembly 2015 and YSRCP in recently concluded Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh.

In an election that was marred by violence, BJP made deep inroads into the Trinamool Congress territory in West Bengal by winning 18 seats in Lok Sabha and restricting the TMC to only 22 seats against 34 it had won in the previous general elections.