Opposition walks out of Rajya Sabha over 'neglect' of states in budget, Sitharaman hits back

New Delhi: The I.N.D.I.A. Opposition bloc parties, led by the Congress, staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, in protest against all states except two being "ignored" in the budget, an allegation termed "outrageous" by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who said all the states never found a mention in any of the previous budgets, including those presented by the Congress.

After Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar rejected notices under Rule 267 that called for the suspension of the listed agenda to take up the issue, Leader of Opposition and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said the Union Budget for the 2024-25 (April 2024 to March 2025) fiscal year provided funds and schemes for only two states -- Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.

All other states did not find any mention, he said, terming the budget a "kursi-bachao" document.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost the majority in the recently concluded general election and had to seek support from regional parties ruling in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh for forming the government.

The Janata Dal (United), which is in power in Bihar, and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the ruling party in Andhra Pradesh, have been demanding special economic packages for their states.

In the budget presented on Tuesday, Sitharaman announced Rs 60,000 crore for Andhra Pradesh and pledged support to get Rs 15,000-crore assistance from multilateral agencies for the southern state.

Kharge said the Congress and the other parties in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.DI.A.) "condemn" this discrimination.

As Dhankhar gave Sitharaman the floor to respond, Kharge led the Opposition bloc out of the House, saying they were walking out in protest.

The Finance Minister said she did not name many states either in the interim budget presented in February ahead of the general election or in the full budget tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, but that does not mean that government schemes are not working for the states.

She cited the example of Maharashtra, which was not named in either of the budgets, and said that did not prevent the Union Cabinet from approving the Rs 76,000-crore Vadhavan port project in Dahanu in the state last month.

"Did Maharashtra get ignored because I did not mention the name of Maharashtra? (An amount of) Rs 76,000 crore has been announced for that project," she said.

Sitharaman said she can go on to cite several other states that have got major projects.

"If the speech does not mention the name of a particular state, does it mean that the schemes of the Government of India, the programmes of the Government of India, the externally aided assistance which we obtain from the World Bank, ADB, AIIB and institutions like that do not go to these states? They go as per a routine," she said.

The expenditure statement of the government gives out the item-wise allocation, the finance minister pointed out.

"This is a deliberate attempt of the opposition parties, led by the Congress, to give an impression to people that 'oh, nothing has been given to our states, it has only been given to two states'.

"I would challenge the Congress party for all the budget speeches they have delivered, that in each of the budget speeches, have they named every state of the country?" she asked. "This is an outrageous allegation", which is "not acceptable", she added.

As the MPs belonging to opposition parties returned to the House, the finance minister said the Trinamool Congress (TMC) had raised questions on Tuesday about nothing being given to West Bengal in the budget, but the fact is that several schemes launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last 10 years have not been implemented in the state.

Her statement was met with vociferous opposition from the TMC members, who said the BJP-led Centre owes Rs 1 lakh crore to West Bengal.

Dhankhar said 20 hours have been allocated for a discussion on the General Budget and the MPs as well as the finance minister will get adequate time to raise issues and respond.