The Opposition INDIA bloc parties led by the Congress walked out of both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday, protesting against the Union Budget for allegedly ignoring most states except Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
The Opposition has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of appeasing its coalition partners in the National Democratic Alliance, with the help of whom it came to power after the Lok Sabha elections this year.
As part of the Budget, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced financial support and several infrastructure projects for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.
The BJP formed the government at the Centre with the help of Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal (United) and Andhra Pradesh’s Telugu Desam Party, among other members of its National Democratic Alliance, after having fallen short of the majority mark in the polls.
On Wednesday, protesting Trinamool Congress MPs alleged that West Bengal had been neglected in the “anti-people” Budget.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in the Rajya Sabha that he and his allies in the INDIA bloc deplored the alleged discrimination in the Union Budget.
“This Budget has been brought to appease two states and save the government,” Kharge alleged.
Soon after this the Opposition MPs walked out from the Rajya Sabha.
However, they returned to the Upper House after Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar gave a chance to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to respond to Kharge’s comments.
Sitharaman said that the allegations by the Opposition were “outrageous”.
“If the speech does not mention a particular state, does it mean the schemes of the government of India, the programmes of the government of India, the externally-aided assistance that we obtain from the World Bank, ADB [Asian Development Bank], the AIIB [Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank] and so on, don’t go to these states?” she said. “They go as per a routine.”
The BJP leader said that Opposition parties led by the Congress made a deliberate attempt to give an impression that “nothing has been given to our states, it’s only been given to two states”.
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