Follow cooperative federalism, Centre told

New Delhi, June 17

The Niti Aayog meeting on Sunday saw Opposition unity, with Chief Ministers of non-BJP ruled states firmly saying the Centre should follow cooperative federalism and not “unnecessarily interfere” in state affairs.

“Has the Centre ever tried to know about states’ problems? I think the Centre should follow cooperative federalism and not unnecessarily interfere in state affairs,” West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said after the meet, alleging that the Niti Aayog “does not do anything for the states”.

The CMs of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka were among those who raised the issue of a loan waver for farmers. 

On the sidelines of the Aayog meeting, they also met PM Modi and urged him to intervene for solving the tussle between the Delhi Lt Governor and the AAP government, terming it a “constitutional crisis”.

The open support to Kejriwal by the four regional heavyweights — from the Trinamool Congress, Telugu Desam Party, Janata Dal (Secular) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) — comes amid Opposition efforts to cobble together a rainbow coalition ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Later, Mamata said the PM did not give any assurance but Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he would look into the matter.

DMK’s MK Stalin too tweeted solidarity with the Delhi CM, while former Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah wrote how the powers-that-be could not care less even though a CM had been protesting for six days.

Kejriwal, accompanied by his deputy Manish Sisodia and ministers Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai, has stayed put at the LG office since Monday, demanding that the Lt Governor directs IAS officers to end their “strike”. Jain  had to be shifted to hospital after his condition deteriorated.

Even as the IAS Officers Association, at a press conference here, denied they were striking work, Kejriwal asked them to end the boycott, assuring them that their safety and security was his govenment’s duty. — TNS/PTI