Jul 17, 2024 12:31 PM IST
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi attacked the Modi government over the reshuffling of NITI Aayog.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Wednesday took a dig at the Narendra Modi-led central government for not appointing any leader from the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena to the NITI Aayog in the recent reshuffle. Priyanka Chaturvedi said she can “understand” the exclusion of leaders from CM Eknath Shinde’s Sena, terming the NITI Aayog as an “immoral power grab.”
“No place for Shinde Sena in the reconstituted NITI Ayog. When ‘Niti’ is only immoral power grab, can understand the exclusion,” the Rajya Sabha MP posted on X, along with a newspaper clipping article on the NITI reshuffle.
The NDA government on Tuesday reconstituted the NITI Aayog, with four full-time members and 15 Union ministers, including from BJP allies, as either ex-officio members or special invitees.
The number of special invitees was raised from five to 11 in the recent reshuffle. While leaders from Shinde’s Shiv Sena were not given a spot, allies such as HD Kumaraswamy (JDS), Jitan Ram Manjhi (HAM), Rajiv Ranjan Singh (JDU), KR Naidu (TDP) and Chirag Paswan (LJP) were given a place.
Apart from NDA allies, the special invitees include BJP ministers such as Nitin Gadkari, JP Nadda, Annpurna Devi, Virendra Kumar, Jual Oram and Rao Inderjit Singh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to remain the chairperson of NITI Aayog, and economist Suman K Bery will continue to be the vice-chairperson, an official notification said.
Scientist VK Saraswat, agricultural economist Ramesh Chand, paediatrician VK Paul and macro-economist Arvind Virmani will also continue to be full-time members of the government think-tank. The four ex-officio members will be Union Ministers Rajnath Singh (Defence), Amit Shah (Home), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Agriculture) and Nirmala Sitharaman (Finance).
“Embracing a vision for holistic development and innovation, NITI Aayog is on a journey of transformative initiatives that promise to redefine India’s future,” the Aayog said in a Facebook post.
The reshuffle in the NITI Aayog was done following the change in the council of ministers, after NDA won the Lok Sabha election for the third consecutive time.
(With inputs from PTI)
