Shortly after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stormed out of the NITI Ayog meeting and alleged that her microphone was muted, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) “fact-checked” her claim, terming it “misleading.
“This claim is Misleading The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it,” the PIB said.
It further added, “Alphabetically, CM, West Bengal turn would have come after lunch. She was accommodated as the 7th speaker on an official request of the West Bengal government as she had to return early.”
The “fact-check” by the nodal agency of the Government of India came after Ms Banerjee claimed that she was stopped from speaking after just five minutes while Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu and CMs of BJP-ruled Assam, Goa and Chhatisgarh spoke for 10-12 minutes.
“I was the only one from the opposition who was participating but still, I was not allowed to speak and the mike was muted…This is insulting, and I’ll not attend any meeting further,” Ms Banerjee said while speaking to reporters in New Delhi.
Notably, Ms Banerjee was the only CM from the Opposition-ruled states as others boycotted the meeting over alleged discrimination in allocation of the Union Budget 2024.
The Ayog’s ninth Governing Council meeting was held today in New Delhi. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by all the CMs of the BJP-ruled states. Several Union Ministers, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Kerala Chief Minister and CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, and the Congress Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, and Telangana were the notable absentees from the meeting.
During the meeting, PM Modi asserted that this decade is of technological and geo-political changes and opportunities.
“India should grab these opportunities and make our policies conducive for international investments. This is the stepping stone for progress to make India a developed nation,” the Modi said in the meeting, according to the NITI Ayog.