Kochi: Kerala CM Pinarai Vijayan said on Saturday that the NITI Aayog has not "discharged the much-needed role of the coordinator" in the last four years and may not even be an alternative to the former Planning Commission.  In his speech at the fifth meeting of the NITI Aayog Steering Council here, Kerala CM Pinarai Vijayan said that after scrapping the schemes at the national level, the Gadgil formula of the states has also gone under which they had earlier received grants in the form of assistance to the scheme.

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He said, apart from this, the states now have to give more share in many centrally sponsored schemes. Instead of the earlier average of 25 per cent, they now have to pay 40 per cent, which is leading to the depletion of the fiscal scope of the State Governments. "I think my colleague CM will agree with me that the NITI Aayog has not played its much-needed role as coordinator in its present form in the last four years. '

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Bihar CM Nitish Kumar had also attended the meeting, while Nitish Kumar demanded special statehood for Bihar at the NITI Aayog meeting. The issue was raised in a loud noise in the Assembly elections in Bihar. Nitish Kumar is likely to capitalise on the issue in the upcoming assembly elections.