Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, on Wednesday questioned Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the Union Budget. He claimed that the plates of all states except Bihar and Andhra Pradesh were empty in the budget allocation.
Speaking at the Rajya Sabha, Kharge said that barring states ruled by NDA allies, several major states, including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh, received nothing in the budget.
“I will not go into the argument of 267. In the budget that was presented yesterday, nobody got anything. Sabke thali khali aur do ke thali mai pakoda aur jalebi. Yeh do states chor kr kuch nhi mila. Neither Tamil Nadu, Kerala, nor Karnataka got anything. Neither Maharashtra nor Punjab, or Rajasthan, and neither Chhattisgarh. Even Delhi did not receive anything, nor did Odisha. I have not seen this kind of budget until now. This budget has been presented only to keep some people happy and it has all been done to save their chairs, ‘Kursi bachane ke liye’ kiya gaya. We condemn this budget and protest against it. Meri toh apeksha aise thi ki sabse jyada budget se hamein (Karnataka) ko milega. But we got nothing. All the INDIA alliance parties will protest. From Kanyakumari to Kashmir, we will protest,” Kharge said.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar interrupted and said, “Let the Union Finance Minister speak,” to which Kharge responded, “Mataji bolne mai toh expert hai mujhe maloom hai (she is an expert in speaking, I am aware of that).”
Dhankar further interrupted the two leaders and said, “Yeh mataji nahi, yeh toh aapki beti ke barabar hai.”
Kharge continued, “I condemn all this. In the states where opposition parties have been elected, you have neglected them. You have not provided anything to them in the Budget. How will development happen if there is no balance? I condemn this and all the parties condemn this type of attitude.”
After the Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge walked out of Rajya Sabha, Jagdeep Dhankar said that democracy will be seriously threatened if disruption and disturbance are weaponized as a political strategy.
“Discussion on the Budget was listed today, and I gave the floor to the Leader of the Opposition in expectation that rules will be followed. I find it has been used as a ploy and a strategy. Hon’ble Members, I strongly plead with you. Democracy will be seriously threatened if disruption and disturbance are weaponized as a political strategy, as has been done now,” Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said.
“Parliament is a citadel of Constitutional and democratic values and liberties. I am aghast. As a matter of fact, during the day and in the days following, we will have ample opportunity to reflect on the budget presented by the Hon’ble Finance Minister. There was absolutely no occasion or justification, even remotely, to not avail the facility accorded by me for this purpose. I cannot persuade myself but to take serious exception to this unwholesome practice adopted by a senior Member, the Leader of the Opposition. I will call upon leaders of the parties to soul-search and reflect on Rule 267. Every day of the sitting, I get a number of requests; it is being taken as a routine exercise, as a habit. Despite my serious observation yesterday, no focus has taken place; I have again uploaded on the portal,” Dhankar added.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lashed out at the opposition’s claim that the budget was ‘discriminatory’ and said that it was an ‘outrageous allegation’ and a deliberate attempt by the opposition parties led by the Congress to give the people the wrong impression that their states were not allocated funds or schemes.
The Finance Minister reacted after Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge made claims that the budget was discriminatory towards the states of the country.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, the Finance Minister said, “It is unfortunate that the opposition, particularly a senior leader, Mallikarjun Kharge, stood up to say what he heard of the budget yesterday. Now that the leader of the opposition raised issues on the budget, which was presented and tabled in the house yesterday.”
“Just to the point he raised, I have not named many states and only spoken of two states. There are a few points I would like to make here as to what happens in a speech. The Congress party has been in power for a very long time in this country and they have presented so many budgets that they would know clearly that in every budget, you don’t get an opportunity to name every state of this country,” she said.
“I’ll take this example: between the vote on account, which was presented on February 1 this year, and the full budget that was presented yesterday for this year, I have not named very many states. The Cabinet, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to set up a port at Vadhvan, but Maharashtra’s name was not included in the budget yesterday. Does this mean that Maharashtra feels ignored?” she said.
The Finance Minister said that 76 thousand crores have been announced for Maharashtra for that project.
“Maharashtra’s name was not taken on vote-on-account. The state’s name was not mentioned even yesterday; does that mean the state got ignored?” she stated.
Adding further, she said, “And I can take the name of so many different states that have so many major projects. If the speech does not mention the name of a particular state, does that mean the schemes and programmes of the government of India, the externally aided assistance that we obtain from the World Bank, ADB, AIB, and so on, do not go to these states?”
“They go as per routine, and in the expenditure statement of the government, the department-wise allocation of the government mentions all this,” she stated.
“I am saying with responsibility that this is a ‘deliberate attempt’ of the opposition parties led by the Congress to give the people the wrong impression that their states were not allocated funds or schemes,” said Sitharaman.
Challenging the Congress, the Finance Minister said, “I would challenge the Congress party that for all the budget speeches they have delivered, have they named every state of the country in each of their budget speeches? This is an outrageous allegation,” she stated.
The opposition INDIA bloc MPs held a protest in the Parliament complex on Wednesday against the Union Budget presented on Tuesday by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
“Opposition virodhi kursi bachao Budget murda baad” slogans were raised by the INDIA bloc leaders as they protested, holding placards in the Parliament building, claiming that the Budget is “discriminatory” in nature.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP Sonia Gandhi, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, party General Secretary KC Venugopal, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, and TMC MP Dola Sen were seen participating in the protest. (ANI)
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