No state ignored in Budget, Opposition trying to mislead: Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday defended the Budget 2024 amid protests by Opposition MPs that it was discriminatory.

Speaking in Rajya Sabha, she said that the Budget did not ignore any state and the Congress-led Opposition was deliberately attempting to mislead citizens.

Soon after her speech, the Opposition MPs walked out of Rajya Sabha.

“In every Budget, you don’t get an opportunity to name every state of this country,” Sitharaman said amid sloganeering by Opposition MPs.

She further stated that the Union Cabinet has decided to set up a port on Vandhavan, a town in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, but the state’s name was not mentioned in her Budget speech on Tuesday.

“Does this mean that Maharashtra feels ignored? If a particular state is named in the speech, does it mean that programmes of the Government of India don’t go to these states? This is a deliberate attempt of the Opposition led by Congress to give the impression to people that nothing has been given to our states. This is an outrageous allegation,” the Finance Minister said.

The Opposition has called the Budget 2024 ‘kursi bachao’ over special projects announced for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, ally states of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Nirmala Sitharaman pointed to Congress chief and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge’s speech in House before she spoke, in which he called the Budget “discriminatory”.

“No state benefitted from the Budget barring two states – their plates were empty whereas two states’ plates were filled with pakoras and jalebi,” Kharge’s speech invited protest in the House.

The Congress chief claimed that the Budget 2024 was a power retention move, while stressing that the Opposition MPs will “condemn it and protest against it”.

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Mallikarjun Kharge said that there was “injustice” in the Budget and the Opposition MPs are fighting for justice.

“This Budget is discriminatory and unfair. They (BJP) are saying that they allotted a special package to Bihar to build roads, but roads are built anyway. All of this is deceptive,” the Congress chief added.

Several Opposition MPs, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress veteran Sonia Gandhi, staged a massive protest outside Parliament before the House proceedings began today against the “discriminatory” Budget. The MPs raised placards such as ‘We want India budget not NDA budget’ and ‘NDA betrays India in Budget’.

As part of their protest, Congress chief ministers have also decided to boycott the NITI Aayog meeting scheduled for July 27.