New Delhi:
Most Chief Ministers today chose to miss a high-level conference, convened to thrash out challenging issues on public order and policing, with only seven state leaders attending it.
The conference of Chief Ministers, convened by the Home Ministry, saw attendance of only Chief Ministers of Odisha Naveen Patnaik, Tarun Gogi from Assam, Vijay Bahuguna from Uttarakhand, Manik Sarkar from Tripura, Nabam Tuki from Arunachal Pradesh, Mukul Sangma from Meghalaya and Neiphiu Rio from Nagaland.
Non-Congress chief ministers like Mamata Banerjee from West Bengal, J Jayalalithaa from Tamil Nadu, Akhilesh Yadav from Uttar Pradesh, Narendra Modi from Gujarat, Nitish Kumar from Bihar, Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Madhya Pradesh and Raman Singh from Chhattisgarh did not attend the meeting, which was convened for the first time during the tenure of Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.
Even Congress Chief Ministers of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chavan, N Kiran Kumar Reddy from Andhra Pradesh, Ashok Gehlot from Rajasthan, Oommen Chandy from Kerala, Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Haryana, O Ibobi Singh from Manipur and Virbhadra Singh from Himachal Pradesh did not participate in it.
Nitish Kumar was in Delhi yesterday but still did not attend the meeting, while Himachal Pradesh and Manipur Chief Ministers had given their confirmation but did not turn up.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had initially given his consent, but did not attend.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who usually attends the Chief Ministers' conference as a chief guest, also skipped it this time.