BJP must answer for the ‘save the government budget’ seeking to exact revenge on TN, country: CM Stalin

CHENNAI: Calling the "Save the government budget" presented by union finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman as an attempt to exact revenge on Tamil Nadu and people who voted for the INDIA bloc in the recent Parliamentary polls, Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday cautioned that the ruling BJP would suffer more defeats for its mistakes.

Justifying his abstention from Saturday's Niti Ayog meeting, Stalin said, "I am compelled to speak before you, in the people's forum, seeking justice due to the discriminatory attitude towards Tamil Nadu reflected in Union Budget 2024."

"This is not just a budget taking revenge on Tamil Nadu it is a budget that takes revenge against the entire India! This is a 'save the government budget' of BJP to remain in power, " Stalin added.

In an eight-minute video posted on 'X' page early in the morning, Stalin qualified his outcry as the voice of all the Indian people, and said, "You (BJP) are committing mistake after mistake! You will suffer more and more defeats. Just as both houses of the Indian Parliament are in outrage, the hearts of the Indian people are also raging against you! THE BJP MUST ANSWER!"

Attributing his party's electoral successes to the progressive and visionary schemes implemented by his Dravidian Model Government in TN over the past three years, Stalin said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi led union government lacked magnanimity and the July 23 union budget was evidence to the government being run with a political motive.

Vengeful act against people who voted for INDIA

Remarking that the budget seemed like a vengeful act against the States and people who boycotted the BJP in the recent Parliamentary polls, the CM said, "Instead of preparing a budget for the welfare of all Indians, she has prepared a budget to take revenge against those who voted for the INDIA bloc. This goes against the oath of office she took swearing allegiance to the Constitution."

Charging the BJP with disregarding Tamil Nadu continuously, the DMK president said, "I do not understand how they expect the people of Tamil Nadu to vote for the BJP without announcing any special schemes for the state!

Expressing disappointment over the BJP not realising the reason for its decline, Stalin said that he anticipated fund allocation for CMRL phase-II in the budget. Also questioning the Centre's silence on approval for Coimbatore and Madurai Metro Rail projects, Stalin said that in the last three years, the same Union Government has approved two metro rail projects for many cities smaller than ours and provided substantial financial assistance.

"How is this fair? Last year, Tamil Nadu was hit by two cyclones and met with severe natural calamities! We requested 37 thousand crore rupees as disaster relief funds. However, they released only 276 crore rupees (that too from SDRF), which should be provided annually, and disappointed us. We were hoping that they would announce flood relief funds at least in this year's budget. However, the Union Finance Minister has allocated over ten thousand crore rupees to states which are ruled by the NDA allies, on which the government relies on to remain standing, " Stalin added.

"They do not have even an iota of concern, for the education of the students is being ruined, and the teachers who teach them are not paid. All that the BJP cares about is to impose their ideology and Hindi, " he said alleging that funds for Sarva Sikshya Abhiyan is not released.

Claiming that the union government has threatened to reduce the stamp duty levied by the states without consulting them, the CM said that they already brought the GST system and took the taxation powers away from the states.

"When they have not even disbursed the GST compensation of 20 thousand crore rupees to Tamil Nadu, who gave them the authority to alter the tax levying system of the states?" Stalin asked, the Union Government was patting its own back for announcing a meagre tax benefit of up to Rs 17,500 per year to individual taxpayers under the NTR (New Tax Regime) when majority can't avail that too.