‘Outrageous allegation’: Nirmala Sitharaman as Oppn calls budget discriminatory, stages protest

NEW DELHI: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday lashed out at the opposition for its claim that the budget was ‘discriminatory’ and said that it was an ‘outrageous allegation’ and a deliberate attempt by the opposition parties, led by the Congress, to give the people the wrong impression that their states were not allocated funds or schemes.

The Finance Minister reacted after Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge made claims that the budget was discriminatory towards the states.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, the Finance Minister said, “It is unfortunate that the opposition, particularly a senior leader, Mallikarjun Kharge, stood up to say what he heard of the budget yesterday. Now that the leader of the opposition raised issues on the budget, which was presented and tabled in the House yesterday, just to the point he raised, I have not named many states and only spoken of two states.

There are a few points I would like to make here as to what happens in a speech. The Congress party has been in power for a very long time in this country and they have presented so many budgets that they would know clearly that in every budget, you don’t get an opportunity to name every state of this country”, she said.

#WATCH | On Opposition’s protest against ‘discriminatory’ Budget, FM Nirmala Sitharaman in Rajya Sabha says,”…In every Budget, you don’t get an opportunity to name every state of this country…The Cabinet had taken a decision to set up a port on Vadavan. But Maharashtra’s name… pic.twitter.com/KSEATuMNpf

— ANI (@ANI) July 24, 2024

“I’ll take this example: between the vote on account which was presented on February 1 this year and the full budget that was presented yesterday for this year, I have not named very many states. The Cabinet, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to set up a port at Vadhvan, but Maharashtra’s name was not included in the budget yesterday. Does this mean that Maharashtra feels ignored?” she asked.

The Finance Minister said that Rs 76,000 crore has been announced for Mahrashtra for that project. “Maharashtra’s name was not taken on vote-on-account. The state’s name was not mentioned even yesterday; does that mean the state got ignored?” she stated.

Adding further, she said, “And I can take the name of so many different states that have so many major projects. If the speech does not mention the name of a particular state, does that mean the schemes and programmes of the government of India, the externally aided assistance that we obtain from the World Bank, ADB, AIB and so on, do not go to these states?”

“They go as per routine, and, in the expenditure statement of the government, the department-wise allocation of the government mentions all this”, she stated. “I am saying with responsibility that this is a ‘deliberate attempt’ of the opposition parties led by the Congress to give the people the wrong impression that their states were not allocated funds or schemes,” said Sitharaman.

Challenging the Congress, the Finance Minister said, “I would challenge the Congress party that for all the budget speeches they have delivered. Have they named every state of the country in each of their budget speeches? This is an outrageous allegation”, she stated.

This comes after Mallikarjun Kharge condemned the budget presented yesterday and claimed that no other states other than Andhra Pradesh and Bihar received anything. “Sabke thali khali aur sirf do ke thali mai pakoda aur jalebi. Ye do states ko chodkar, kisi ko kuch nai mila. Neither Tamil Nadu Kerala nor Karnataka got anything. Neither Maharashtra nor Punjab or Rajasthan and neither Chhattisgarh”, he said.

“Even Delhi did not receive anything nor did Odisha. I have not seen this kind of budget until now. This budget has been presented only to keep some people happy and it has all been done save their chairs, ‘Kursi bachane ke liye’ kiya gaya. We condemn this budget and protest against it. The whole of INDIA bloc condemns this”, said Kharge.

Meanwhile, the opposition INDIA bloc MPs held a protest in the Parliament complex on Wednesday, against the Union Budget, presented on Tuesday by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. “Opposition virodhi kursi bachao Budget murda baad” slogans were raised by the INDIA bloc leaders as they protested holding placards in the Parliament building, claiming that the Budget is “discriminatory” in nature.

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party general secretary K C Venugopal, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, TMC MP Dola Sen were seen participating in the protest. (ANI)