Mamata Banerjee may skip Niti Aayog council meet chaired by PM Modi on Feb 20

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to skip Niti Aayog's governing council meeting that will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 20.

council which is apex body of Centre's think tank, includes all chief ministers, lieutenant goverrs of Union Territories (UTs), several Union ministers, and senior government officials. PM Modi will chair meeting where issues related to agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing, and human resource development will be discussed.

"Mamata Banerjee may t attend Niti Aayog's February 20 meeting," a senior TMC leer told PTI. 

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TMC Supremo, who is at loggerhes with Central government, especially ahe of West Bengal assembly polls, h earlier skipped Niti Aayog meetings, terming it as a "fruitless" exercise, alleging that body has " financial power" and cant support state plans. 

sixth meeting of governing council will witness entry of Lakh for first time, in dition to participation of Jammu and Kashmir as a UT. This time, or UTs heed by ministrators have also been invited to join.

governing council meets annually and its first meeting took place on February 8, 2015. However, council did t meet last year due to Covid-19 pandemic.

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WB Assembly Election 

West Bengal Assembly with 294 seats will go to polls in April-May 2021, Trinamool holds 222 seats at present. However, BJP has me major inros in state in Lok Sabha elections winning 18 seats out of 42 and establishing itself as major opposition force in state. Recently, TMC trumped BJP in all 3 polls, but BJP is using its booth-level strategy and has regularly dispatched its top leers including Amit Shah and JP Nda in state for winning upcoming elections. 

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