category Regional, chandigarh, , tags Regional, chandigarh, , DW BUREAU Chandigarh Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will not attend the Niti Aayog meeting in the national capital on Saturday to protest the alleged discrimination against the state by the Centre over the issue of grant of funds, a party leader said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the Niti Aayog Governing Council meeting. Aam Aadmi Party s Punjab unit chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said the chief minister has taken up with the Centre the demand to release Rs 3,600 crore outstanding rural development fund (RDF), but the Centre has been sitting over it. He said Mann has in the past met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal in this regard. The Centre is discriminating against Punjab...so in protest, the chief minister will not be going for the NITI Aayog meeting, Kang said. Sometimes it is the RDF issue, sometimes it is value reduction imposed by the Centre on wheat crops damaged due to untimely rains, GST compensation delay, sometimes it is the coal issue..they discriminate against Punjab. But we want to tell them that the country runs according to the Constitution, Kang told PTI over phone. The Niti Aayog meeting will deliberate on several issues, including, health, skill development, women empowerment and infrastructure development, with an aim to make India a developed nation by 2047. (editor dailyworld.in)