As promised, Mamata Banerjee walked out of Saturday’s Niti Aayog meeting here and alleged she had been cut short midway in her speech, the perceived slight of an Opposition-ruled state overshadowing the deliberations and triggering a verbal duel between INDIA and the NDA government.

On Friday, the Bengal chief minister had said that the Niti Aayog must be stopped, as it is “useless with no financial powers” and instead wanted the Planning Commission to be revived.

Mamata told reporters she had left the meeting because her mike had been switched off although she was the only Opposition chief minister present and was in a way speaking for all of them too.

The government soon challenged this. It first got its publicity wing to fact-check the Bengal chief minister and then sent finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to do the fire-fighting.

Mamata said she had been stopped five minutes into her speech whereas her counterparts from states ruled by the BJP and its allies were given more time. “I was the only one from the Opposition who came here but they did not allow me to speak. This is insulting and I will not attend any meeting further,” she said.

Mamata added: “Chandrababu Naidu was given 20 minutes to speak. The CMs of Assam, Goa and Chhattisgarh were allowed to speak for 10-12 minutes.”

Mamata said she was listing the ways the Centre had discriminated against Bengal when her mike was switched off.

“I asked them why did they discriminate and stop me? They should be happy that I attended as an Opposition (chief minister) but they gave more time to their leaders. I was attending this meeting in the greater interest of cooperative federalism,” The Trinamool Congress leader said.

She alleged that the Narendra Modi government was biased, and that the Union budget reflected these biases against Opposition-ruled states.

All the other INDIA bloc chief ministers had decided to stay away from Saturday’s meeting in protest against their states being overlooked in the budget.

“We don’t have issues if some other state is given more funds but it cannot be that one is forsaken for the other,” Mamata underscored.

No sooner had she fired the first salvo than the Centre’s publicity wing, the Press Information Bureau (PIB), sought to fact-check the chief minister.

Drawing attention to a video of her media byte, the PIB said: “It is being claimed that the microphone of CM, West Bengal was switched off during the 9th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog #PIBFactCheck This claim is #Misleading. The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it.”

Further, it said the government had accommodated Mamata’s request to be allowed to speak ahead of other chief ministers although Bengal’s turn would have come after lunch owing to the alphabetical order in which chief ministers are invited to intervene at the meeting.

“Alphabetically, CM, West Bengal turn would have come after lunch. She was accommodated as the 7th speaker on an official request of the West Bengal government as she had to return early,” the PIB’s fact-check unit said.

Seeing that Mamata’s narrative was still gaining traction, the governmentfielded Sitharaman.

“We all heard her…. Every chief minister was given an allotted time and that was displayed on the screen before every table…. Apparently, now, she has conveyed to the media or conveyed through the media that her mike was put off,” the finance minister said.

“That is completely false…. She could have requested that she is going to continue speaking like some other chief ministers did. She could have continued speaking as long as she wanted like, some chief ministers did, but she chose to use that as an excuse so that she can get out of the meeting; and after getting out of the meeting for her to say that the mike was switched off is just so unfortunate.”

Sitharaman added: “I wish Mamata Banerjee would please say the truth behind this rather than again build a narrative based on falsehood.”

At the briefing in the evening on the meeting, Niti Aayog chief executive officer B.V.R. Subrahmanyam said that every chief minister had been allotted seven minutes and the countdown clock showed how many minutes remained of each speaker’s time.

When the time is up, “it shows zero zero; nothing else”, he said.

At that point, defence minister Rajnath Singh – who was conducting the proceedings – tapped on his table and Mamata said she would have liked to speak more but would end her speech, sources said.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin – who was the first to announce his decision to boycott the Niti Aayog meeting in protest at his state being ignored in the Union budget – had asked in the context of Mamata’s contention: “Is this cooperative federalism? Is this the way to treat a chief minister?”

Stalin had added: “The Union BJP government must understand that Opposition parties are an integral part of our democracy and should not be treated as enemies to be silenced. Cooperative federalism requires dialogue and respect for all voices.”

Targeting the Niti Aayog, launched by the first Modi government to replace the Planning Commission, Congress media head Jairam Ramesh posted on X: “Since it was established ten years ago, NITI Aayog has been an attached office of the PMO and has functioned as a drumbeater for the non-biological PM.

“It has not advanced the cause of cooperative federalism in any manner. Its functioning has been blatantly partisan, and it is anything but professional and independent.

“It muzzles all divergent and dissenting viewpoints, which are the very essence of an open democracy. Its meetings are a farce to be reckoned with. Its treatment of the West Bengal CM today, although typical of the NITI Aayog, is unacceptable.”

Again, Sitharaman stepped in with a counter: “Jairam, you weren’t even there! We all heard Hon. CM @MamataOfficial. She spoke her full time. The screen in front of our tables kept showing the time. A few other CMs spoke beyond their allotted time. On their own request, extra time was allowed without any fuss. Mikes were not switched off, not for anybody, particularly, not for CM, WB. Mamata ji has chosen to spread falsehood.

“I was happy she attended. Was happier when she said she is speaking for Bengal and in fact for the entire opposition. I may agree or disagree with what she had to say. But now with her saying baseless things outside, I can only conclude that she is making an effort to keep I.N.D.Ialliance happy.”