Mallikarjun Kharge-FM Nirmala Sitharaman Spar Over Budget In Rajya Sabha
On Wednesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rebuffed accusations from the Opposition, which labeled the budget as discriminatory. While clarifying her stance, she said, “This is an outrageous allegation. Congress has been in power for a very long time in India. You don’t get to name a state in every budget.” Sitharaman highlighted Maharashtra as an example, pointing out that despite not being named in the budget speeches, the state received significant funding. “Maharashtra, for example, between the interim and full budget, I had not named at all. The Cabinet under PM Modi passed a very important decision to set up a major port in the state. Did they get ignored if I didn’t mention their name? Rs 76,000 crore has been allocated for the project.” Sitharaman highlighted the outlook on budget allocations and said, “There are so many other states where we have major projects. If the speech does not mention the name of a specific state, does it mean our other schemes and funds don’t go to them? They go as per routine and the expenditure statement mentions all this.” “This is a deliberate attempt by the INDIA bloc to give an impression to people that their state hasn’t received anything and that funds have only gone to specific states,” she further added. Responding to West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) criticism that the state received no benefits, Sitharaman noted that the TMC had not implemented the schemes provided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in West Bengal.
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