Budget 2024: ‘Pakora and jalebi’ in plates of 2 states, says Mallikarjun Kharge

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday (July 24) said the Union Budget 2024 showed favouritism towards two states, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, while neglecting the needs of the rest of the country. The Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Rajya Sabha termed the budget a “cursi-bachao“document, implying that it was drafted to protect the political interests of the ruling party rather than addressing the overall needs of the country.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Kharge said, “Not a single state got anything from the Modi government’s budget. The states where people rejected the BJP, those states got nothing from this budget! Everyone’s plate is empty, and in the plate of two states there are pakora And jalebi. This budget was only drawn up to save his seat.”

While Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar urged Kharge to get Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to respond, Kharge remarked: “Main sphere deta hun. Mataji bolne mein toh expert hain mujhe maloom hai. (Let me finish. Mataj is an expert in speaking, I know that.)” He further argued that balanced development among states is essential for national progress. Following this, Kharge led the opposition bloc out of the House of Representatives in protest.

In her response, Sitharaman pointed out that omitting specific states’ names in the budget speech does not mean that government schemes will not benefit those states. She cited Maharashtra as an example, which was not mentioned in the budget but recently got approval for the ₹76,000-crore Vadhavan port project in Dahanu.

Sitharaman said: “If the speech does not mention the name of a particular state, does it mean that the plans of the Indian government, the programmes of the Indian government, the externally supported aid that we get from the World Bank, ADB, AIIB and such institutions are not going to these states? They are going as per a routine.”

Read also Budget 2024: Delhi’s allocation stagnates at ₹1,168 crore; AAP criticises BJP over funding

She challenged the Congress party to review its own budget speeches to determine whether they had covered all the states in the country, calling the opposition’s allegations “outrageous” and “unacceptable”.

On the return of the opposition parties to the House, Sitharaman addressed the concerns of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) over West Bengal not getting allocations in the 2024 budget. She responded by saying that several schemes launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last decade have not been implemented in the state.

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