HYDERABAD: K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), the chief minister of Telangana, informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday that he will boycott the 7th Governing Council meeting of Niti Aayog, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday, August 7, in a show of strong opposition to the current "discriminatory" trend of the Centre towards states.

KCR wrote a stern letter to Modi in which he asserted that only when the states flourish will India as a great nation advance. He said, India can be made into a powerful nation by its strong and prosperous states alone. 

KCR wrote in a letter explaining his decision to boycott the meeting that "in light of these facts I do not find it useful to attend the 7th Governing Council meeting of Niti Aayog scheduled to be held on August 7, 2022 and I am staying away from it as a mark of strong protest against the present trend of central government to discriminate against the states and not treat them as equal partners in our collective effort to make India a strong and developed country."

On the other hand, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said, he will bring up a number of issues, including a legal guarantee to the minimum support price (MSP) for crops and farm debt in the Niti Aayog meeitng. 

"Water, farmer debt, a legal guarantee to the MSP, the canal system, the cleansing of the "buddha nallah" [in Ludhiana], the BBMB [Bhakra Beas Management Board], and also health-related issues will all be brought up,  Mann said.

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