New Delhi, June 7 (TIWN): West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has refused to attend a meeting of the governing council of the NITI Aayog in Delhi on June 15, arguing it is “fruitless” for her to attend the meeting of “a body that has no financial powers.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to chair the June 15 meeting, the first of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s second tenure

Officials had earlier said the main agenda of the meet would revolve around agriculture, water management in drought-affected areas and national security. This is the governing council’s fifth meeting, the first took place in February 2015 after the think-tank replaced the Planning Commission.

“Given that the NITI Aayog has no financial powers and the power to support state plans it is fruitless for me to attend the meeting,” the chief minister wrote in a 3-page letter to PM Modi. She also made out a case for giving the think-tank financial powers as suggested by a former chairman of the Finance Commission.