On Saturday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar did not attend the NITI Aayog meeting in New Delhi, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Bihar was represented by Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha. The reason for Nitish Kumar’s absence was not known.

This isn’t the first time he has missed a NITI Aayog meeting. Four Union Ministers from Bihar were also there. JDU General Secretary KC Tyagi said Nitish Kumar missed the meeting for personal reasons, not political ones. He added they are excited about the budget and the NITI Aayog meeting.

Mamata Banerjee walked out of the meeting

On Saturday, July 27, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee walked out of the 9th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog in New Delhi, stating that she was only permitted to speak for five minutes. The meeting is being chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mamata Banerjee added that she was the only one from the opposition participating, yet she was not allowed to speak. She described this as insulting.

Several Opposition-ruled states have announced they will boycott the meeting. The chief ministers of three Congress-ruled states—Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah, Himachal Pradesh’s Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, and Telangana’s Revanth Reddy—have stated they will not attend the meeting, citing alleged bias against their states in the Union Budget 2024.

Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister and DMK leader MK Stalin, along with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the Aam Aadmi Party-led governments of Punjab and Delhi, have also announced they will boycott the NITI Aayog meeting. Mamata Banerjee, who attended the meeting, previously stated that she believed their voices should be raised on a common platform.