Delhi: Delhi Finance Minister Atishi on Tuesday said despite paying Rs 2.32 lakh crore in taxes to the BJP-led Centre, the national capital has not even got a single penny as its share in central taxes in the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha.
Atishi said Delhi had demanded a budgetary allocation for the MCD but it did not get even a single rupee from the Centre. "Delhi is the growth engine of the country. It pays more than Rs 2 lakh crore in income tax to the Centre and Rs 25,000 crore as central GST. Despite paying Rs 2.32 lakh crore in taxes to the Centre, Delhi was asking for just Rs 20,000 crore, which is just 0.4 per cent of the Union Budget. But no money was given as its share in central taxes or to the MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi)," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said. She challenged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to "show even one thing done for Delhi in the last 11 budgets presented by its government at the Centre".
Kerala: State Finance Minister K N Balagopal on Tuesday slammed the Union Budget for the financial year 2024-25 by calling it a "political exercise" aimed at saving the life of the NDA coalition at the Centre. Balagopal said the budget was anti-people and anti-nation which did not take into account the needs of various states, including the legitimate requirements of Kerala. The Minister said the budget indicates that the Modi government is not fit to talk about cooperative federalism.
"Once BJP opened its account in Kerala, they closed the account of the state," he said, expressing extreme dissatisfaction and disappointment with the Union budget.
Maharashtra: The NCP (SP) on Tuesday said the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was not for India but for the NDA allies of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. In a post on 'X', NCP (SP) spokesperson Clyde Crasto said Maharashtra was neglected in the Budget, and people of the state will give the BJP a befitting reply in the assembly polls later this year.
"Did Mrs @nsitharaman just present the #Budget for #Bihar and #AndhraPradesh? This is a hold on to 'Crutches #Budget2024'. @BJP4India-led #NDA government knows that if the Budget is not favourable for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, their government will fall. Mrs #NirmalaSitaraman presented a budget to benefit the NDA, not #India." "P.S: Neglected people of #Maharashtra will give a befitting reply to #BJP in the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha elections. Jai Hind Jai Maharashtra," Crasto wrote.
West Bengal: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday dubbed the Union Budget 2024-25 as "politically biased and anti-poor" and slammed the Centre for "depriving" the state. The chief minister wondered what wrong West Bengal committed that it had been "deprived" by the Centre.
"Bengal has been completely deprived in this Union budget. This doesn't look into the interest of the poor. The budget is politically biased. This is directionless and has no vision. It is only to serve a political mission," she told reporters on the state assembly premises.