Akali Dal slams Punjab CM for boycotting Niti Aayog meeting

Chandigarh, May 27 (IANS) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday slammed Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for boycotting the Niti Aayog meeting at the instance of his 'boss' Arvind Kejriwal, saying "Punjabis will be the losers in this face off".

Condemning the Chief Minister for putting the political interests of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over those of Punjabis, SAD spokesman Charanjit Singh Brar said "the Punjab government has lost a chance to deliberate on key issues like education, health, skill development and infrastructure development by boycotting the meeting".

"The AAP government claims these issues are the cornerstone of its governance model but it has chosen to boycott a meeting which was going to discuss them threadbare."

Asserting that the eighth governing council meeting of the Niti Aayog discussed the entire roadmap for developing the country, Brar said "the Chief Minister should have attended the meeting to solicit the required funds to fulfill this goal".

Taking objection to claims by the AAP government that it was boycotting the meeting in protest against discrimination against the state, the SAD leader said "this protest should have been recorded in the Niti Aayog meeting to resolve all issues faced by the state instead of staying away".

Brar said the failure of Mann to adopt a proactive approach had already damaged the state and its economy. He said the Chief Minister had not taken up the issue of the release of outstanding rural development fund of Rs 3,600 crore with the Prime Minister till now.

He said similarly, the Chief Minister had not taken up the value reduction imposed on wheat produce damaged by untimely rains with the Centre nor demanded adequate compensation for farmers.

There are many other pending issues all of which needed to be flagged at the Niti Aayog meeting to ensure they were addressed. Punjab has lost an opportunity to resolve all these issues, the Akali Dal leader added.

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