'No state ignored': FM Sitharaman defends Union Budget 2024 as Opposition protests in Rajya Sabha
PTC News Desk: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman defended Union Budget 2024 on Wednesday, amid opposition MPs' claims that it was discriminatory.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, she stated that the Budget wasn't overlooking any state and that the Congress-led Opposition was deliberately misleading citizens.
Following her address, the Opposition MPs walked out of Rajya Sabha.
"In every Budget, you don't get the opportunity to name every state in this country," Sitharaman remarked as opposition MPs protested.
She also stated that the Union Cabinet decided to establish a port at Vandhavan, a town in Maharashtra's Palghar district, yet the state 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," Sitharaman added.
Addressing the Rajya Sabha following the Opposition's walkout, Sitharaman said, "It is unfortunate that the Opposition, particularly a senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge who stood up to say his views on what he heard of the budget yesterday. I would think, and maybe it's a bit too much to expect, that in the honour of democracy, at least the Opposition would have stayed here to listen to what I have to respond."
"To the point that he (Kharge) raised that I have not named many states, and spoke about only two states. Congress party has been in power for a very long time in this country. They have presented so many different budgets. And they would know clearly that in every budget, you don't get an opportunity to name every state of this country," she said.
Several opposition MPs, including Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and Congress veteran Sonia Gandhi, staged a big protest outside Parliament before today's House sessions against the "discriminatory" Budget. The MPs held signs reading 'We want India budget, not NDA budget' and 'NDA betrays India in Budget'.
As part of their protest, Congress chief ministers have decided to boycott the NITI Aayog meeting on July 27.
- PTC NEWS
