Angry over Union Budget 'neglect', TN CM Stalin to boycott PM-chaired Niti Aayog meet; EPS says Budget for 'NDA partners'
Even the word Tamil Nadu does not feature in the budget, MK Stalin said, adding that DMK MPs would stage a protest in the national capital tomorrow.
Chief Minister MK Stalin
CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday called the union budget 2024 a 'betrayal' meted out to Tamil Nadu and announced that he would boycott the July 27 Niti Aayog meeting and the meeting of Chief Ministers called for by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, in condemnation of the neglect of the state in the budget.
Talking to media persons at DMK headquarters 'Anna Arivalayam' on Tuesday evening, CM Stalin called the ‘disappointing’ budget a 'betrayal' meted out to the people of Tamil Nadu and said that the BJP has only announced schemes for a few states that have helped turn the minority BJP into a majority government. “There is no guarantee that even those states would receive the funds. The BJP government might forget the states the same way it announced schemes and refused to allocate funds for Tamil Nadu," he alleged.
Expressing his unhappiness over the fact that the budget did not mention any special project for Tamil Nadu, the CM said, "A few days ago, I flagged a list of schemes required for the state. The union finance minister has ignored them completely. The budget of a country must address the concerns of all states. But Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget has no justice. Both Tamil Nadu and the Tirukkural, which PM Modi had said he loved, found not even a mention in the Budget."
He also recalled his wish list for Tamil Nadu, which includes Metro Rail schemes for Madurai and Coimbatore and said none of the representations of the state has been considered for announcement in the Budget.
Though the Union government had announced 'Metro Rail scheme' for Tamil Nadu, no fund allocation has been made for it (Chennai Metro Rail Phase-2) and the state is being deceived till date, Stalin said.
He stated that he would boycott the Niti Aayog meeting in New Delhi on July 27 in condemnation of the neglect of the state in the union budget, and added that the DMK MPs would stage a protest in the national capital tomorrow.
Following Stalin's 'boycott' decision, it's learnt that chief ministers of other INDIA bloc-ruled states are also planning to boycott the Niti Aayog meet.
AIADMK general secretary and Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami also expressed "great disappointment" over the Budget for not announcing any new project for Tamil Nadu. “The budget has been prepared to satisfy the BJP’s alliance partners’ ruling states. It shows that the budget was not prepared with an objective to achieve comprehensive and equal development across the nation. More importantly, the Centre did not announce any project for Tamil Nadu. This shows the Centre’s animosity against Tamil Nadu,” Palaniswami said in a statement.
He went on to ask, “When the Centre allocates funds for flood mitigation works in Bihar, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Sikkim, why did it not allocate funds for similar projects in Tamil Nadu. Why is the Centre government biased (in allocating funds) to Tamil Nadu?”
(With Online Desk inputs)
