Modi Sarkar 2.0's first NITI Aayog governing council meet today, Mamata and KCR to skip

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the fifth meeting of the NITI Aayog's Governing Council on Saturday with focus on issues like the drought situation, farm distress, rain-water harvesting and preparedness for Kharif crops.

The five-point agenda for the meeting also includes aspirational districts programme, transforming agriculture and security related issues with special focus on left wing extremism (LWE) districts, an official statement said.

The meeting will be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan and will be attended by chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories, several Union ministers and senior government officials. This will be the first governing council meeting after re-election of the Modi government.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, has refused to attend the meeting, saying it is "fruitless" as the NITI Aayog has no financial powers to support state plans. According to reports, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao may skip the NITI Aayog meeting because of the meetings which he is holding with officials of various departments.

Headed by the Prime Minister, the Governing Council includes ministers of Finance, Home, Defence, Agriculture, Commerce and Rural Development, besides state chief ministers and NITI Aayog vice chairman, CEO and members.

The Governing Council reviews the action taken on the agenda items of the previous meeting and deliberates upon the future developmental priorities. So far, four meetings of the Governing Council have been held under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister.

The first meeting of the Governing Council was held on February 8, 2015.