“Andhra Bihar Finance Minister”: TMC on Budget 2024

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], July 23 (ANI): The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday took a jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party over announcing special packages in the Union Budget for states inlcuding Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, which are ruled by key allies of the ruling National Democratic Alliance coalition.

In a social media post on ‘X’, the ruling party in West Bengal shared a graphic in which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman captioned, “The ANDhra BihAr Finance Minister” with the letter N, D and A mentioned in upper caps.

“Kursi bachane ki akhri prayas!” the TMC wrote in the post.

TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee hit out at the BJP saying that tackling urgent issues like unemployment and inflation, it has crafted a budget to “bribe” its coalition partners.

“This BUDGET is a complete failure with ZERO WARRANTY, presented by a FAILED FINANCE MINISTER OF A FAILED GOVERNMENT. Instead of tackling urgent issues like unemployment, rising prices and growing inflation, the BJP has crafted a budget to bribe its coalition partners and buy time before the government IMPLODES!” Banerjee said in a post on ‘X’.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Aaditya Thackeray questioned why Maharashtra was not given adequate allocations in the Union Budget though the state is reportedly the “largest taxpayer” in the country.

“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 contribute? Was Maharashtra even mentioned once in the budget? Why does the bjp hate and insult Maharashtra so much?” Thackeray said in a post on ‘X’.

Slamming the BJP for “undemocratically” forming the government in Maharashtra, Thackeray lamented that the state has only faced corruption and loot.

“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,” he said.

Earlier, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee described the Budget as “kursi bachao (saving seat) budget” in a dig at the ruling BJP, which fell short of majority in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections and relies on crucial support of Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) and Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party to stay in power.

“This is a kursi bachao (saving seat) budget. They have presented the Budget for those parties which will save their seats. This budget is to keep their NDA partners Nitish Kumar and in Andhra Pradesh,” Banerjee said speaking to ANI after the presentation of the first Budget of the third term of Narendra Modi government.

Slamming the BJP for allegedly not announcing any special allocation for West Bengal, the TMC leader said, “This Budget is not for India. They have not given anything to Bengal. They can’t tolerate Bengalis. The BJP will be wiped out of Bengal.”

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made major announcements for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, including a boost in infrastructure and special financial support.

In her Budget speech in Parliament, Nirmala Sitharaman said, “On the Amritsar-Kolkata industrial corridor we will support the development of an industrial nod at Gaya in Bihar. We will also support the construction of road connectivity projects namely Patna-Purnia Expressway, Buxar-Bagalpur Expressway, Bodhgaya-Rajgir-Vaishali-Darbanga and an additional two-lane bridge over river Ganga at Buxar at a total cost of Rs 26,000 cr.”

“Power projects, including setting up of a new 2400 megawatt power plant at Pirpainti, will be taken up at a cost of Rs 21400 crore,” she added.

Andhra Pradesh also benefited from the Union Budget 2024-25 as the Finance Minister announced special financial support to the state, recognising the state’s need for capital.

“Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act- Our govt has made efforts to fulfil the commitments in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. Recognising the state’s need for capital, we will facilitate special financial support through multilateral agencies,” Sitharaman said.””In the current FY, Rs 15,000 crore will be arranged with additional amounts in future years,” she added.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the first Union Budget of the Modi 3.0 government and her seventh consecutive one on Tuesday. The budget session of Parliament began on July 22 and, according to schedule, will end on August 12.