‘Budget disappointing, Bihar neglected again’: CM Nitish Kumar hits out at BJP

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said the Union Budget 2023-24 is disappointing and lacks vision.

The JD(U) de-facto leader alleged that the state was “neglected” with no attention having been paid to demands such as special status and a special package of Rs 20,000 crore.

“The budget is disappointing and lacks vision. Every year, the priorities of the budget are changed and these remain unfulfilled because of a loss of focus and lack of sufficient funds,” Nitish Kumar was quoted by PTI as saying. The chief minister said Bihar had requested a special package of Rs 20,000 crore during the pre-budget meeting of state finance ministers which has been ignored in the budget 2023-24. No attention has been paid to the financial condition of the states, he added.

“There is no concrete roadmap for employment generation. The borrowing limit for states has not been increased even though a memorandum to the effect had been submitted (to the Centre),” he added.

Nitish Kumar dumped the BJP in August last year and joined the Mahagathbandhan. Since then, he has been pitching for a united opposition to take on the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls next year.

Regarding the seven priorities or ‘Saptarshi’, the chief minister said, “This is just repackaging of existing central schemes.” Kumar claimed the seven priorities “follow the pattern of saat nishchay (seven resolves) that we introduced in 2016 as the guiding principle of schemes to be introduced and implemented by the government in the state”.

He added that schemes under ‘Saptarshi’ have been announced “without adequate funding provisions”. Overall, this budget has nothing substantial for the economic growth of Bihar, he said.

Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, reacting to the Union budget, said the BJP government at the Centre has once again “cheated the people of Bihar”.

He alleged that promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi remained unfulfilled. “When the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014, the Narendra Modi government had promised that farmers’ income would double. They promised to provide 80 crore jobs by 2022. Now, the year 2023 has arrived but their habits of ‘jumlebaazi’ did not go,” he tweeted.

“Bihar has given 100 per cent MPs to BJP and its alliance partners, but they have cheated the people of Bihar,” the RJD leader added. Senior BJP leader Sushil Modi, on the other hand, praised the budget, saying that it will provide a strong impetus to growth, especially in Bihar.

“Bihar will get its share of Rs 1.7 lakh crore from the Centre’s tax collection in the current fiscal. The state will get additional assistance of Rs 13,000 crore from the Union government without any interest. Besides, the state will get maximum benefit under the PM Awas Yojna (PMAY),” he said.