Four CMs to Oppose Budget by Boycotting NITI Aayog Meeting on July 27

Four Chief Ministers from the opposition parties will boycott the NITI Aayog meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 27. Revanth Reddy (Telangana), Siddaramaiah (Karnataka), Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (Himachal Pradesh), and MK Stalin (Tamil Nadu) will not attend the meeting as a sign of dissent against the Union Budget 2024-25.

The decision was announced by the Congress General Secretary (Organisation), KC Venugopal. He said in a post on X, "The Union Budget presented today was extremely discriminatory and dangerous, which completely goes against the principles of federalism and fairness that the Union government must follow. In protest, INC CMs will be boycotting the NITI Aayog meeting scheduled on July 27."

Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin while addressing a press conference said, "The central government boycotted Tamil Nadu in the Union Budget." Disappointed by the budget he will skip the meeting.

"We don't feel kannadigas are heard, and hence there is no point in attending the NITI Aayog meeting," said the Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah in a post on X.

The NITI Aayog meeting will be held to discuss the 'Vikshit Bharat@2047' document, a senior government official said in a media report. The council of NITI Aayog has the Prime Minister as the chairman and consists of all State Chief Ministers, Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories and several Union Ministers.

On July 23 Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget. The Union Budget met with a backlash from opposition CMs. They have accused the central government's budget of having benefited the NDA allies only. FM dedicated significant financial aid for Andhra Pradesh and major infrastructure projects for Bihar. Andhra Pradesh is governed by Telugu Desam Party led by N Chandrababu Naidu. Bihar is headed by Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United is in power. The TDP and the JD-U helped the BJP to form government at the centre. Both are allies of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

KC Venugopal called the budget inconsistent with the values of the constitution. "This government's attitude is completely antithetical to constitutional principles. We will not participate in an event that is solely designed to hide the true, discriminatory colours of this regime."