Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday took a swipe at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman , questioning whether she was doing an Elon Musk by cutting the budget for the External Affairs Ministry.
During the discussion on the Union Budget 2025-26 in the Rajya Sabha, Chidambaram inquired about the reasons behind the reduced allocations for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and whether the government is planning to close embassies and consulates, thereby diminishing India’s global presence.
“The finance minister asked this House to appropriate Rs 20,517 crore for the Ministry of External Affairs. In FY 2023-24, we allocated Rs 28,915 crore, in the current year (FY 2024-25) the revised estimate is 25,277 crore, almost 3,600 crore less,” he said.
He added, “And for next year, the finance minister is asking for Rs 20,517 crore, another 5,300 crore less. I suspect that the finance minister is doing an Elon Musk on the External Affairs Ministry. Somebody must explain, are we shrinking our world presence? Are we closing down our embassies?” he asked.
The Congress leader also said that the Union Budget was “politically driven”. “It is obvious that the Budget was politically driven, I shall not elaborate on that. There was no philosophy behind the Budget,” said Chidambaram.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk is in charge of the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) set up by President Donald Trump after winning his second term to cut government expenditure, and run it more efficiently and in a financially viable manner.
With inputs from agencies
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‘Are we closing down our embassies?’: Chidambaram alleges Sitharaman is doing a Musk on MEA
