"Politically motivated...": Congress MP Shashi Tharoor criticises FM Sitharaman over Union Budget

NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor alleged discrimination against opposition-ruled states in the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and termed it a political budget.

The Congress leader said on Wednesday that the sum total of the benefits given to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh was obviously politically motivated.

Tharoor's statement comes after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made major announcements for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, including a boost in infrastructure and special financial support.

"The discrimination point was only one point of many points. In my case, I had 22 minutes worth of arguments. So, I am not going to confine it to one thing. But on that particular issue, there is absolutely no doubt in anyone's mind that the sum total of the benefits given to the two states was obviously politically motivated," he said.

"When Bihar gets Rs 26,000 crore for highways and Karnataka doesn't even get Rs 2,000 crore for Bengaluru's road and tunnel infrastructure, it is clearly a different approach here. You get money for calamity relief to various NDA states, you get nothing for INDIA government states; and so on and so forth. This is a political budget, but you can argue that most budgets are political, so why should we be surprised? But it's still worth pointing out," the Congress MP added.

Earlier, INDIA bloc MPs held a protest in the Parliament complex on Wednesday, against the Union Budget, presented on Tuesday by Sitharaman. "Opposition virodhi kursi bachao Budget murda baad" slogans were raised by the INDIA bloc leaders as they protested holding placards in the Parliament building, claiming that the Budget is "discriminatory" in nature.

In her Budget speech in Parliament, Nirmala Sitharaman said, "On the Amritsar-Kolkata industrial corridor, we will support the development of an industrial nod at Gaya in Bihar. We will also support the construction of road connectivity projects, namely Patna-Purnia Expressway, Buxar-Bagalpur Expressway, Bodhgaya-Rajgir-Vaishali-Darbanga and an additional two-lane bridge over the Ganga River at Buxar at a total cost of Rs 26,000 cr."

"Power projects, including the setting up of a new 2400 megawatt power plant at Pirpainti, will be taken up at Rs 21400 crore," she added.

The Finance Minister said that new airports, medical colleges, and sports infrastructure in Bihar will be constructed.An additional allocation to support capital investments will be provided, she said. She emphasised that the requests of the Bihar government for external assistance from multilateral development banks will be expedited.

The FM also announced an allocation of Rs 11,500 crore for flood control measures in Bihar. Funds have also been provided for developing the temple corridors in the iconic temples in Bihar. The Kashi Model will be implemented in Bodh Gaya. Special funds have also been provided for the Rajgir Jain Temple site.