New Delhi: A day after the Union budget included a big push for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, opposition parties in both houses of parliament on Wednesday (July 24) accused the BJP-led government of being “anti-federal”, indulging in regional disparity and rewarding states that have voted for the saffron party.
After the budget was presented in parliament on Tuesday, the opposition had termed it a “kursi bachao” budget and accused the BJP of giving primacy to its key allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) is in alliance with the BJP in his state, while Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP is in power in Andhra Pradesh after winning the assembly elections in June.
Both the JD(U) with 12 seats and the TDP with 16 seats in the Lok Sabha are crucial to the BJP after it fell short of a majority on its own in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In his speech in the Rajya Sabha, former finance minister and Congress MP P. Chidambaram said the budget was the “death knell of federalism”.
“What do we see around this country? All India Service officers defy the directions and orders of the council of ministers of an elected government in Delhi. Funds are withheld from Kerala and West Bengal on one pretext or another. Borrowing limits of non-BJP state governments have been slashed. Tamil Nadu has been denied disaster relief assistance. Why does the UPSC have to play a role in the appointment of the DGP of the state? Why should a state government not appoint the vice chancellor of state universities?
“And how did this government treat Andhra Pradesh and Bihar and Odisha before April? The same demand is there. The same Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act was there. The chief minister was a different person … For ten years, how did you treat them? For ten years, how did you treat Bihar?
“When a leader wears one cap you treat him one way, and when he … wears another cap you treat him another way. I don’t grudge at all [sic] you are giving relief to Andhra Pradesh or Bihar. But what about the other states? We are a federal country. This is the death knell of federalism if you pick and choose among states. You are the Union of India … you are the government of all the states. You cannot pick and choose one state and deny relief to another state,” he said.
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Earlier in the day, Sitharaman responded to Rajya Sabha leader of opposition and Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge’s charge that she had not mentioned other states in her budget speech, saying it is not possible to mention all states in a speech.
“Congress party has been in power for so many years in this country. They have presented so many budgets. They would know that in every budget, you don’t get an opportunity to name every state of this country,” she said.
However, the opposition continued to rally against the budget for its favouring Bihar and Andhra Pradesh through the course of the discussion on the budget in both houses of parliament.
In the Lok Sabha, Trinamool Congress (TMC) general secretary and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee in his speech said that the budget was an “anti-people budget to bribe two political parties”.
“If I am to describe this budget in one line, I would say it is a budget without any clarity or vision which has been rolled out to satisfy the coalition partners of the BJP rather than providing any substantial relief to the 140 crore people of this country. This budget was planned by two individuals to keep another two in good faith, neglecting the aspirations of 140 crore people.
“So this gist is it has been planned by two and executed by two. It is an anti-people budget crafted to bribe two political parties and buy time before the government implodes,” he said.
Banerjee added: “Coalition means cooperation, cohesion. But after yesterday, coalition means appeasement and compensation. That is very clear from yesterday’s budget.”
In response to Sitharaman’s statement in the Rajya Sabha earlier in the day where she accused the TMC of not implementing Union government schemes, Banerjee demanded that the finance minister issue a white paper on the funds released to the state for the MGNREGA and the PM Awas Yojana.
“I challenge the finance minister if she can release the white paper of how many dime, rupees, penny the central [Union] government has given to Bengal after its embarrassing defeat in the 2021 legislative assembly elections,” he said.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Dayanidhi Maran said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made promises in Tamil Nadu before the elections and accused him of “trying to cheat” the people by saying that he would support but not doing so after the polls.
“I think the time has come for the prime minister to take some good advice and follow our Dravidian model chief minister M.K. Stalin [sic]. When M.K. Stalin became the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, he said ‘I will work not only for the people who voted for me but also for the people who did not vote for me, it is my duty.’ But today, our prime minister is not working for the people who did not vote for his party, but only for the parties which are supporting him.
“If you see, lakhs and crores of rupees were spent by this Union government to promote Modi ka guarantee … It was all public money that was used to promote the prime minister. After the election, Modi ka Guarantee is gone. Now … there is an insurance policy and the premium is paid by people of India to ensure he still continues as prime minister,” he said.
Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MP Supriya Sule in her speech said that Maharashtra is not represented in the GST council meetings, depriving the state of finances.
“They say everything will happen through [the] GST council … Data says that the Maharashtra finance minister never attends the GST council meetings. So my state is always unheard … If a finance minister does not attend GST council meetings, Maharashtra is never heard … Besides the finance minister, nobody can attend the meeting,” she said, referring to the BJP’s ally, NCP leader and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.
“He’s your ally and you have to tell him,” she said.
Sule added that the BJP-led government should not “give us ‘step’ treatment for what the voters have decided”.
Allies back BJP’s push in budget
The BJP’s allies, MPs from the TDP and the JD(U), however, hit back at the opposition for accusing the Union government of favouring Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.
Dinesh Chandra Yadav, JD(U) MP in the Lok Sabha, said that the party had been demanding special category status for the state for a long time and if Bihar has got benefits in the budget, “no one should have a problem against it”.
Taking aim at Banerjee, Yadav said that when West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was Union railway minister, most funds would go to her state.
“Our young colleague from the TMC, Banerjee sahab, said that all the money has gone to Bihar and not to any other state. When they had the rail ministry, all the money would go to Bengal. We would keep shouting, but the money would almost not come to Bihar. If a state is backward and they get funds, then no one should object to it. Bihar’s backwardness has been considered and funds have been allotted by the prime minister and taken up Nitish Kumar’s concerns to a large extent.”
TDP MP Bharat Mathukumilli thanked the Union government for allocating Rs 15,000 crore to the state for the development of the capital Amaravati as well as other infrastructure projects.
“I would like to tell the opposition that it is not that the BJP has three MPs in Andhra Pradesh, but the NDA has 21 MPs and that is a very strong part of the government today. We would like to continue to seek central support over the next few years because we would like Andhra to come back on its feet. Strong states make strong countries and cooperative federalism is very good for all states in a competitive manner,” he said.
