Oppn Flays Odisha CM For Not Attending NITI Aayog Meeting

Bhubaneswar: The Opposition on Sunday criticised the decision of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik not to attend the governing council meeting of NITI Aayog in New Delhi.

“Naveen has become the chief minister by taking the oath of the Constitution of India. However, he is concentrating on his party affairs and ignoring his constitutional responsibility, which does not augur well for Odisha,” senior BJP leader and Union Tribal Affairs minister Jual Oram told mediapersons here on Sunday.

He said like the Maoists, who are not allowing the police to the village and persuading the villagers to boycott the elections, the chief minister is also boycotting the NITI Aayog, Ayushman and Akankhya schemes of the Centre. By doing this, he is pushing Odisha to a state of lawlessness, which is grossly unfortunate. “Will the chief minister clarify his intentions?” Oram asked.

The Congress also came down heavily on Naveen on his matter.

“The chief minister had attended the NITI Aayog meeting last year. What went wrong for him that he decided to skip it this year? Has the chief minister taken the right decision in a federal democracy? On which forum he will raise the issues concerning Odisha? Will he tell his party MPs not to attend Parliament? Even the West Bengal chief minister and TMC leader Mamta Banerjee attended the NITI Aayog meeting. It seems that the chief minister is not ready to place the issues of Odisha at the meeting as his principles are not clear,” Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik told the media here.

Refuting the allegations of the Opposition, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb said the chief minister could not attend meeting as he had prior engagements in the state. He had informed the Prime Minister in this regard in a letter, he added.