Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday replied to the Opposition’s claim that most states were ignored from the Union Budget as she made a special mention of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
Citing budgets under the Congress-led UPA government, Sitharaman, who was addressing the Lok Sabha post-budget, said, “I have been picking up on Budget speeches since 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and so on. The Budget of 2004-2005 did not take the name of 17 states. I would like to ask the members of the UPA government at that time – did money not go to those 17 states? Did they stop it? If they have stopped it, then they have every business to raise questions.”
She further claimed that during the FY 2009-10, the then-finance minister did not name 26 states – Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Sitharaman, on July 23, announced financial and developmental assistance to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, the two states ruled by BJP’s key alliance partners JD(U) and TDS respectively.
The Opposition was quick enough to describe it as a “Kursi Bachao budget” and an “appeasement budget” meant for the well-being of only those states that have major stakes in the National Democratic Alliance.
Many opposition leaders, because of this, boycotted the subsequent NITI Aayog meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they “felt” neglected by the central government.
Last week, the finance minister had replied to the Opposition’s concerns in Rajya Sabha, saying that their allegation that Bihar and Andhra were preferred over other states was “outrageous.”
“In every Budget, you don’t get an opportunity to name every state of this country. Maharashtra’s name was not taken in the Budget yesterday. Does this mean that Maharashtra feels ignored? If a particular state is named in the speech, does it mean that programs of GOI don’t go to these states?” she said.
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