New Delhi: Amid an ongoing tussle for power between the Delhi government and the Centre, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and 30 other Chief Ministers are scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday to discuss a wide range of issues.
Interestingly, the meeting will put PM Modi and all those leaders, who have often accused the NDA government of acting like a wrecking ball for them, in the same room tomorrow.
Notable among them will be Kejriwal, Delhi Chief Minister, who has taken Modi's government to court for trying to appropriate the administration of the capital and Harish Rawat, who was recently reinstated as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand by the Supreme Court after it found that the Centre had illegally imposed President's Rule in the hill state.
Saturday's meeting is the first in ten years ever since the Inter-State Council was set up in 1990.
The group brings together the PM, six of his cabinet ministers, and all Chief Ministers and administrators of Union Territories to discuss the coordination of schemes and policies
It would be interesting to see how Modi haters interact with PM, who has mooted the idea of cooperative federalism and empowering state governments.
Those stated relationship goals notwithstanding, the conclave will unfold in Delhi as Nabam Tuki of the Congress is meant to take a trust vote in Arunachal Pradesh to determine if he can remain Chief Minister of the north eastern state.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court said that like in Uttarakhand, the Centre had wrongly put Arunachal under President's Rule in January.
The Arunachal crisis has given opposition Chief Ministers an opportunity to allege that undermining non-BJP governments has become the natural order for the Centre.
Sources say BJP Chief Ministers will be told that if the opposition tries to swerve the meeting towards recent Centre-Vs-state conflicts, they need to rally together to ensure the session does not digress from the Centre's agenda.
The PM reportedly wants to highlight the achievements of the aadhar scheme, which has created the world's largest biometric data base, and transfers cash subsidies directly to poor families, preventing money from being siphoned in huge welfare reform schemes.
The PM is likely to seek the Chief Ministers' feedback and support for the crucial Goods and Services Tax or GST, a landmark tax reform, that the government wants to clear in the 20 sitting monsoon session that begins on Monday.
