Was Maharashtra even mentioned in budget? wonders Maha Vikas Aghadi

Mumbai: Hours after the Narendra Modi-led NDA government tabled its first budget of third term, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi in poll-bound Maharashtra wondered whether it was a budget exclusively for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh even as the state BJP described it as "historic." 

The opposition MVA (I.N.D.I.A) said that the budget is aimed towards saving the BJP-led government at the Centre and it shows BJP’s hate towards Maharashtra. 

The MVA comprising Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar-headed NCP (SP) wondered as to what the Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra got from the budget. 

“Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's party have supported Modi's government and these states have been given a boost in the budget. Shinde also supported the BJP government. What did Maharashtra get in return? Why treat the state that pays the highest tax in the country? It has been proved again today that the BJP government at the Centre always treats Maharashtra as a secondary,” Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar, a senior Congress leader said. 

NCP (SP) national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said: “Did Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman just presented the budget for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. This is a hold on to 'Crutches Budget 2024’. The BJP-led NDA  government knows that if the Budget is not favorable for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, their government will fall. She presented the budget for the NDA not India.”

Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray too lashed out at the Centre.

“I can understand the BJP wanting to save its government and giving Bihar and Andhra Pradesh a huge sum of the budget. But what is Maharashtra’s fault?  That we are the largest taxpayer?  What did we get against what we contributed?  Was Maharashtra even mentioned once in the budget?  Why does the BJP  hate and insult Maharashtra so much?  It’s a shame that despite unconstitutionally forming a government and running the most corrupt regime in our state, Maharashtra gets nothing in return. Looting Maharashtra through Shinde regime’s corruption and then taxes, direct and indirect. That’s what we face,” said Thackeray.