India News | Criticism of Budget by Oppn Reveals Their Political Frustration, Negative Attitude Towards Backward States: BJP
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The BJP on Wednesday lashed out at the Congress and other opposition parties for criticising the Union Budget and said it reveals their political frustration and negative attitude towards "some backward states" that need special focus and assistance for development.
New Delhi, Jul 24 (PTI) The BJP on Wednesday lashed out at the Congress and other opposition parties for criticising the Union Budget and said it reveals their political frustration and negative attitude towards "some backward states" that need special focus and assistance for development.
It demanded that the Congress and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi apologise to the people of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh for their remark on the budgetary announcements made for these states..
The BJP's reaction comes against the backdrop of the Congress and other constituents of the opposition INDIA bloc accusing the government of presenting a "discriminatory" budget towards opposition-ruled states after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a host of budgetary announcements for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar on Tuesday.
The JD (U) and the TDP, which rule Bihar and Andhra Pradesh respectively, are key constituents of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre.
Slamming the INDIA bloc, BJP Rajya Sabha MP GVL Narasimha Rao said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government's budget has been welcomed by "one and all" but the opposition parties are coming out with "immature and negative reactions" against it.
"The entire country looks at this as a progressive, pro-people, pro-poor, pro-farmer and pro-employement budget. It is a budget which has actually laid out a vision for 'Viksit Bharat'," he told a press conference at the BJP headquarters here.
With more than Rs 48 lakh crore overall budgetary expenditure, the Union Budget 2024-25 has kept its focus on every section of the society and every state in the country, he said, adding special focus has been given to backward states, particularly eastern region, for their development.
But, "some allocations" have been made to "some states" keeping in view their developmental needs and long neglect, Rao said in an apparent reference to budgetary announcements made by the finance minister for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
"So, given this background, the Congress and the INDI Alliance's opposition to the budget reveals their political frustration. It shows their negative attitude towards some backward states which need special focus and development," the BJP leader charged.
"Andhra Pradesh certainly needs special financial assistance because of the ravages of the division and bifurcation the state suffered due to the Congress," he added.
Rao said that the Congress, which is criticising the budget, had in its poll manifesto mentioned that it would give special category state status to Andhra Pradesh if voted to power.
"They make such kind of hollow promises because they do realise that they betrayed the people of Andhra Pradesh and they cannot get out of it. They have been reduced to 1 per cent vote share party in Andhra Pradesh (in recent elections)," the BJP MP said.
Rao asserted that the BJP government is not dependent on "numbers (Lok Sabha seats)" from one state. "We have won 240 seats on our own strength," he said.
"But Manmohan Singh government was formed twice with Andhra Pradesh's support and yet it betrayed the people of the state," he said.
The opposition has termed it a "kursi bachao budget" driven by political compulsions and claimed that the government ignored opposition-ruled states in a bid to "appease" BJP's allies.
"I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that if he doesn't want to learn even after getting such a massive jolt, people of Andhra Pradesh will never forgive him," Rao added.
Rao alleged that the Congress is responsible for the "current plight" of Andhra Andhra Pradesh as its erstwhile government at the Centre had bifurcated the state to create Telangana in a hurry hoping to get political dividend but did not provide adequate resources to the state.
"Prime Minister Modi and the finance minister have provided some financial assistance to Andhra Pradesh through multilateral agencies only to help the state," he said and asked, "Why are the Congress and the INDI Alliance not able to tolerate when some help is being provided to Andhra Pradesh and Bihar in the budget?"
The BJP MP alleged that the opposition INDIA bloc is unable to "digest" the Centre's financial assistance to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh because it was hoping that the NDA government would not last for long.
"Immediately after (recent) elections, they made particular efforts to break the NDA coalition but failed. As the NDA continues to remain strong, INDI Alliance is rattled which reflects from their statements," he charged.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)