On Wednesday, Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition and Congress President, accused the BJP-led government of favoring only two states, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, in the Union Budget for 2024-25 while neglecting the rest of the country.
Kharge labeled the budget as a “kursi-bachao” (chair-saving) document and led criticism from Congress and other INDIA bloc parties against what he described as biased allocations. During a heated debate in the Rajya Sabha, Kharge claimed, “No state received any benefit from the Modi government’s budget. States where people have rejected BJP got nothing! Everyone’s plate is empty, while two states have Pakora and Jalebi on their plates. This budget is merely designed to save his chair,” he said.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar urged Kharge to allow Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to respond, to which Kharge replied, “Main bol deta hun. Mataji Bolne Mein Toh Expert Hain Mujhe Maloom Hain..(Let Me Finish. Mataji is an expert in speaking, I am aware of that)” Kharge argued that balanced development across states is crucial for overall progress. As Sitharaman took the floor, Kharge led the opposition bloc out of the House in protest.
In her response, Sitharaman addressed the allegations by noting that many states were not specifically mentioned in either the interim or full budgets. She emphasized that the absence of a state’s name in the budget speech does not mean that government schemes are not benefiting those states.
She cited Maharashtra as an example, which, despite not being mentioned, recently received approval for the Rs 76,000-crore Vadhavan port project. Sitharaman challenged the Congress party to review their own budget speeches to see if every state was named and rejected the opposition’s claims as “outrageous” and “unacceptable.” Upon the opposition’s return to the House, Sitharaman also addressed concerns from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) regarding West Bengal’s budget allocations. She countered that several schemes introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the past decade had not been implemented in the state.
