Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attacked the opposition for carrying out a "misleading campaign" on the Union Budget over allegations that it favoured BJP's allies - the JD(U) in Bihar and the TDP in Andhra Pradesh.
Participating in the discussion on the Budget in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said just because a state was not named, it doesn't mean that it was not included in the Union Budget. The Finance Minister said Rs 818 crore was provided to Left-ruled Kerala as viable gap funding.
Dishing out data from budgets presented during the UPA era, Sitharaman said 26 states were not named during the 2009-10 Budget presentation.
"The Budget speech of 2004-05 did not take the name of 17 states. Did money not go to those states? If they stopped the money, then they can raise this issue. 18 states weren't named in 2005-06, 16 were not named in 2007-08. 26 states weren't named in 2009-10. The 2009-10 full Budget didn't name 20 states," Sitharaman said while drawing parallels with the UPA government.
Sitharaman, who presented her seventh consecutive budget on July 23, allocated Rs 15,000 crore to develop Andhra Pradesh's new capital, Amaravati. Rs 26,000 crore has been set aside for road connectivity projects in Bihar.
The Opposition has claimed the two states were favoured as the BJP was dependent on the JD(U) and the TDP to remain in power in the Centre.
Speaking about the allocation made for Jammu and Kashmir, Sitharaman said a "substantial financial support" of Rs 17,000 crore was provided in the Union Budget for the Union Territory.
"It includes Rs 12,000 crore towards financing the cost of Jammu and Kashmir Police. That's a burden we want to take on our shoulders so that J&K has more flexibility to spend money on development activities. An additional central assistance of Rs 5,000 crore has also been provided," she said.
