PM Modi's meeting with chief ministers is the first in ten years of India's Inter-State Council. (File)
Highlights
- PM holds meeting of all Chief Ministers tomorrow
- Meeting to discuss coordination of key schemes and policies
- Several Chief Ministers have accused centre of blatant over-reach
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is today meeting the country's 31 Chief Ministers, which will put him in the same room with leaders who accuse his government of recently acting like a wrecking ball for them.
Among them is Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who has taken Mr Modi's government to court for trying to appropriate the administration of the capital, and Harish Rawat, who was reinstated as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand by the Supreme Court which found that Mr Modi's government had illegally imposed direct or President's Rule in the hill state to get rid of the Congress government.
Sources say PM Modi is keen to exhibit his commitment to the cooperative federalism he speaks of so often - 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.
Mr Tuki is expected to have a tough time in proving his right to remain in power - several Congressmen have broken away from the party in a large revolt.
The crisis gives opposition Chief Ministers the opportunity to allege that undermining non-BJP governments has become the natural order for the Centre. "If the Tuki government wins, then the opposition Chief Ministers will use the meet to attack the Centre. And ditto if it loses the vote," said a BJP leader, who asked not to be named, and predicted a tense session.
The meeting today is the first in ten years of India's Inter-State Council. 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.
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.
The GST, a national sales tax, will replace an unwieldy set of central and state tariffs and will, according to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, boost the rate of growth by 2 percent. Though the proposal has been cleared by the Lok Sabha, where the government dominates, it has been stalled in the Rajya Sabha by the opposition Congress.