Funds were not denied to any states: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday rejected the opposition’s allegations of opposition-ruled states being ignored in the Union Budget 2024 presented by her in Parliament on July 23.
Replying to the budget discussion in the Lok Sabha, the minister asserted that no state was denied funds. She recalled that in the past Budgets by the UPA government also did not mention names of all states in their Budget speech.
“I have been picking up on Budget speeches since 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and so on. The Budget of 2004-2005 did not take the name of 17 states. I would like to ask the members of the UPA government at that time – did money not go to those 17 states? Did they stop it?” PTI quoted Sitharaman as saying.
“In the 2005-06 budget, 18 states were not named. 13 states were not named in 2006-07, 16 states were not named in 2007-08. Did money not go to them? In 2008-09, 13 states were not named. In 2009-10, 26 states were not named,” the minister said.
The opposition had slammed the Union budget over the announcements for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, the states ruled by key National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies Janata Dal (United) and Telugu Desam Party respectively.