Opposition INDIA bloc MPs, including Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, staged a massive protest in Parliament on Wednesday against the "discriminatory" Budget tabled by the Narendra Modi government. The INDIA bloc has alleged that the first Budget of the third Narendra Modi government prioritised NDA allies in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh at the cost of opposition-ruled states.
Apart from Congress leaders, several MPs from the TMC, Samajwadi Party, DMK and the Left joined the protest in Parliament. The MPs raised placards such as 'We want India budget not NDA budget' and 'NDA betrays India in Budget'.
Taking potshots at the BJP, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said the Budget was focused on giving a "support price" to NDA alliance partners to save the government.
"We were all demanding that farmers should get MSP, but the support price is given to the alliance partners who are saving their govt, rather than the farmers... The government could not take any concrete steps regarding inflation," ANI quoted Yadav as saying.
"Uttar Pradesh did not get anything. UP should have got a double benefit from the double-engine government. I think the people of Lucknow have angered the people of Delhi. Its result is visible in the budget," he further said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called it a "deceptive" budget that was an injustice to the people.
"This Budget is anti-people, no one has got justice. They have talked about special packages, but special status has not been given. This is a deceptive budget and injustice to the people," Kharge said.
Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, ruled by the NDA's two allies, TDP and JD(U) respectively, extracted a lion's share in the Union Budget. The BJP, which does not have a majority on its own, is dependent on its allies to stay in power.
While Congress MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring flagged no flood assistance to Punjab, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi dubbed the Budget a "Maharashtra Virodhi Yojana".
"This protest is against the discrimination in the Budget. All the opposition-ruled states have been ignored... Maharashtra is the highest tax paying state, yet we don't get our share in return," Chaturvedi said.
