The Rajya Sabha witnessed a dramatic walkout on Wednesday as the INDIA opposition bloc, spearheaded by the Congress, protested against the alleged neglect of most states in the Union Budget.
The Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, dismissed the accusations as "outrageous," asserting that no previous budgets, including those presented by the Congress, had mentioned all states.
The contention arose when Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar rejected notices under Rule 267, which called for the suspension of the listed agenda to address the issue.
This prompted Leader of Opposition and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to criticise the Union Budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year, claiming it favoured only Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, while other states were disregarded.
Kharge labeled the budget as a "kursi-bachao" document, implying it was designed to secure the government's position.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), having lost its majority in the recent general elections, had to rely on regional parties in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh to form the government. Both the Janata Dal (United) in Bihar and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh have been vocal in their demands for special economic packages for their states.
In the budget presented on Tuesday, Sitharaman announced a substantial allocation of Rs 60,000 crore for Andhra Pradesh and pledged to facilitate Rs 15,000-crore assistance from multilateral agencies for the state. Kharge and other members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) condemned this perceived discrimination.
As Dhankhar gave Sitharaman the floor to respond, Kharge led the opposition bloc out of the House in protest. In her defense, Sitharaman stated that she had not named many states in both the interim budget presented in February and the full budget tabled on Tuesday.
She argued that the absence of state names did not imply neglect and cited the example of Maharashtra, which was not mentioned in the budget but received approval for the Rs 76,000-crore Vadhavan port project in Dahanu last month.
"Maharashtra was not named, yet it received a significant project. Does this mean Maharashtra was ignored?" Sitharaman questioned, emphasising that the Union Cabinet's approval demonstrated the government's commitment to various states irrespective of their mention in the budget speech.
Sitharaman further elaborated that the government’s schemes, programmes, and externally-aided assistance from institutions like the World Bank, ADB, and AIIB are routinely allocated to states.
She accused the opposition of attempting to mislead the public by suggesting that states not named in the budget speeches receive no benefits.
Challenging the Congress, Sitharaman asked if their budget speeches had ever named every state in the country. She termed the opposition’s allegations as "outrageous" and "unacceptable."
As the opposition MPs returned to the House, Sitharaman addressed specific queries from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which had previously questioned the lack of budget allocations for West Bengal.
Sitharaman retorted that several central schemes launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the past decade had not been implemented in the state. This assertion was met with strong opposition from TMC members, who claimed that the BJP-led Centre owed Rs 1 lakh crore to West Bengal.
Chairman Dhankhar intervened, noting that 20 hours had been allocated for discussing the General Budget, ensuring ample time for MPs and the finance minister to raise and address their concerns.
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