Chennai, 24 May 

Siddaramaiah, and two other Chief Ministers from South India skipped the Niti Aayog's Governing Council meeting in New Delhi that was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.

Siddaramaiah was busy with "prior engagement" in the State and sent his speech to be read out in the council. 

In City, a source close to Siddaramaiah said, "The Chief Minister is not boycotting the meeting, but he has a prior engagement in Mysuru". The source told PTI that the CM has sent his address to the Governing council. He, however, did not clarify who would present Siddaramaiah's address in the meeting.

Marxist veteran and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, meanwhile, deputed his cabinet colleague KN Balagopal on his behalf. He did not provide a reason for not attending the meeting, sources said.

However, since it is a meeting of Chief Ministers, it is not clear whether Balagopal would be able to attend it, the sources said.

Last year also, Vijayan had not attended a Niti Aayog meeting of CMs in Delhi and had sent Balagopal.

Similarly, Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy, who heads the AINRC-led NDA coalition in the Union Territory, also skipped the event, for an unknown reason, an official source said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also skipped the meeting, sparking outrage among the Opposition in her state. 

Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana-- N Chandrababu Naidu, MK Stalin and A Revanth Reddy, however, did attend the meeting.