Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday questioned Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the Union Budget and claimed that the plates of all states except Bihar and Andhra Pradesh were empty in the budget allocation.
Speaking at the Rajya Sabha, Kharge said that barring states ruled by National Democratic Alliance parties, several major states, including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, have received nothing in the budget.
"I will not go into the argument of 267. In the budget that was presented yesterday, nobody got anything. Sabke thali khali aur do ke thali mai pakoda aur jalebi. Yeh do states chor kr kuch nhi mila kuch. Neither Tamil Nadu Kerala nor Karnataka got anything. Neither Maharashtra nor Punjab or Rajasthan and neither Chhattisgarh. Even Delhi did not receive anything nor did Odisha. I have not seen this kind of budget until now. This budget has been presented only to keep some people happy and it has all been done save their chair, 'Kursi bachane ke liye' kiya gaya. We condemn this budget and protest against it. Meri toh apeksha aaise thi ki sabse jayada budget se hami (Karnataka) ko milega. But we got nothing. All the INDIA alliance parties will protest. From Kanyakumari to Kashmir, we will protest," Kharge said.
Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankar interrupted and said, "Let Union Finance Minister speak," to which Kharge said, "Mataji bolne mai toh expert hai mujhe maloom hai (she is expert is speaking, I am aware of that)"
Dhankar further interrupted the two leaders and said, "Yeh mataji nhi yeh toh aapki beti ke barabar hai."
Kharge further said, "I condemn all this. In the states where opposition parties have been elected and you have been neglected. You have not provided anything to them in the Budget. How will development happen if there is no balance? I condemn this and all the parties condemn this type of attitude."
After the Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge walked out of Rajya Sabha, Dhankar said that democracy will be seriously threatened if disruption and disturbance are weaponized as a political strategy.
