Why PM prefers Raisina Hill to Vigyan Bhavan

Modi believes that in the spirit of 'cooperative federalism,' the venue for such meetings should take place around the proverbial 'round table.'
Sanjeeb Mukherjee and Archis Mohan report.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan auditorium is increasingly replacing Vigyan Bhavan as the address for meetings attended by chief ministers of states.

On Sunday, the auditorium will be the venue for the NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting. In a first, the auditorium was the venue for the Inter-State Council meeting last July.

The NITI Aayog Governing Council, which comprises all chief ministers and some senior Cabinet ministers, is expected to deliberate on the vision of a 'new India' for the next three years and also on a wider 15-year timeframe.

The chief ministers of all 29 states and two Union Territories that have legislative assemblies -- Delhi and Puducherry -- have been invited.

However, some sources said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Kerala Chief Minister P Vijayan have not confirmed attending Sunday's meeting though there has not been any official response on the same.

In the earlier Planning Commission, most such meetings between the prime minister and chief ministers and also of the Inter-State Council took place at Vigyan Bhavan, the pre-eminent convention centre in New Delhi for central government events.

The first and second Governing Council meetings of the newly formed NITI Aayog were held at 7, Race Course Road, the prime minister's official residence.

Sources say the PM believes that in the spirit of 'cooperative federalism,' the venue for such meetings between him and the chief ministers should take place around the proverbial 'round table' with the symbolism that everybody who sits there has equal status.

In contrast, the main conference hall at Vigyan Bhavan had the PM and senior Cabinet ministers seated on the dais while the chief ministers and officials comprised the audience.

Modi had attended several of these conferences at Vigyan Bhavan as Gujarat chief minister from 2001 to 2014.

Officials said Modi preferred the Rashtrapati Bhavan auditorium because the venue enabled a free exchange of ideas among participants.

The venue is deep inside the President's Estate and does not disrupt traffic.

In another unintended outcome, media crews have to wait at some distance from the venue. At Vigyan Bhavan, media crews wait metres from the spot where invitees get off their vehicles.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan auditorium was constructed at the initiative of A P J Abdul Kalam when he was President and completed in 2007.

It recently hosted the NITI Aayog's Digidhan award ceremony.

The auditorium is also the venue for the annual 'At Home' events hosted by the President, which were earlier hosted in the open but ran the risk of being disrupted by rain.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with (from left to right) Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, then Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting, July 15, 2015. Photograph: PTI