Mamata Banerjee walks out of NITI Aayog meet, claims she was given inadequate time to speak
A day earlier, the West Bengal chief minister said the government-run think tank should be scrapped and the earlier Planning Commission should be brought back.
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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday walked out the NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting, alleging that she was not given “inadequate time to speak” and was discriminated against, The Indian Express reported.
Banerjee alleged that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu was given 20 minutes to speak, while the chief ministers from the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states of Assam, Goa and Chhattisgarh spoke for 10 to 12 minutes. The Telugu Desam Party is an ally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance at the Centre.
Banerjee alleged that in contrast, her microphone was cut off within five minutes.
“I came alone from the Opposition but they stopped me in five minutes,” the chief minister said. “This is an insult. I will not attend any further meetings.”
The Union government’s Press Information Bureau, however, described Banerjee’s claim as misleading. The agency claimed that only a clock showed that her allotted time was over, but no bell was rung to mark it.
“Alphabetically, CM, West Bengal turn would have come after lunch,” the Press Information Bureau said in a social media post. “She was accommodated as the 7th speaker on an official request of the West Bengal government as she had to return early.”
Five chief ministers of Opposition-ruled states had earlier said that they...
