'INDIA' front protests against budget benefiting Bihar and Andhra; not practical to name all states in budget, says Nirmala Sitharaman

NEW DELHI: Allies of 'INDIA' front protested in Parliament saying that the allotment of significant funds to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh in the Union Budget was unfair and a violation of federal principles.

Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that it is not practical to name all the states in the budget. Before the meeting of the House today, the Congress-led 'India' allies had protested outside the Parliament with placards reading “We want India Budget not NDA Budget” and “NDA betrays India in Budget”. The protest was led by Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, CPP Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav in front of the new parliament gate. MPs from the state of Kerala also protested with placards in front of the Parliament demanding justice for Kerala.

Everyone's plate is empty but there are pakora and jalebi in plates of two states

Opposition leader Mallikarjuna Kharge alleged in the Rajya Sabha that while Bihar and Andhra got full pakodas and jalebis on their plates in the budget, other states got empty plates. When Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman got up to answer this, the opposition staged a walkout.

Rejecting Kharge's criticism that only two states were mentioned in the budget, Nirmala Sitharaman pointed out that it is not practical to name all the states of the country in every budget. "Rs 76,000 crore has been announced for the port in Maharashtra. Other states have also received their due share of central projects. All allocations are clearly mentioned item wise in the budget document," the finance minister said.

The opposition pointed out that the budget was discriminatory as soon as the Lok Sabha convened in the morning. However, Speaker Om Birla continued the question and answer session. The discussion on the budget started in both houses. P Chidambaram said in the Rajya Sabha that the schemes including employment incentives in the budget were copied from the Congress manifesto.

“I'm particularly happy that Nirmala Sitharaman had an opportunity to read the Congress manifesto. I would urge friends on treasury benches to read the Congress manifesto so that you can persuade the prime minister and the finance minister to take some more ideas from our manifesto,” Chidambaram said in Rajya Sabha.

“I would challenge the Congress party to show that in every budget speech they have delivered, all the States have been listed out. Trinamool members criticizing the budget should remember that many of the schemes introduced by the Prime Minister were not implemented in West Bengal."

- Nirmala Sitharaman