 "Bihar, Maharashtra, Jharkhand: What’s in the budget for poll-bound states?")
The Budget 2024 has elicited mixed political reactions. While the two main coalition partners of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Janata Dal (United) – have hailed the budget, the opposition Congress has dubbed it a “Kursi Bachao (save your chair)” Budget.
The opposition parties have questioned the budget’s focus on Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, where the BJP is ruling in alliance with the JD(U) and TDP, respectively. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) has slammed the budget for apparently overlooking poll-bound Maharashtra.
Some states slated to go to polls found a mention in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech on Tuesday (July 23) but others did not. Let’s take a look.
Maharashtra
Maharashtra will hold Assembly elections later this year. The western state, ruled by the Mahayuti alliance consisting of the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of Ajit Pawar, was not mentioned in FM Sitharaman’s budget speech.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) of Uddhav Thackeray has hit out at the Centre for no specific financial allocations or projects in the Union Budget for Maharashtra despite its status as the largest tax-paying state.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray wrote in a post on X, “I can understand the BJP wanting to save its government and giving Bihar and Andhra Pradesh a huge sum of the budget. But what is Maharashtra’s fault? That we are the largest taxpayer? What did we get against what we contributed?”
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“Was Maharashtra mentioned even once in the budget? Why does the BJP hate and insult Maharashtra so much? This isn’t the first time, through the entire past decade of BJP’s government, we have seen this bias against Maharashtra,” he alleged.
For those of us who believe that Bihar and Andhra Pradesh might get what has been promised in the budget today, we need to also look back at the decade.
— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) July 23, 2024
Multiple promises were made by the bjp govt at the centre on various things.
From a special package of ₹1,25,000 crores to…
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also took potshots at the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre.
“After denying a special status to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, they have given them funds. Maharashtra continues to be ignored by the Centre. It has become a state where you keep taking in money from,” she said.
The Mahayuti alliance is facing a stiff competition from the MVA in the state.
Haryana
Like Maharashtra, Haryana will hold Assembly elections later this year. But even this BJP-ruled state found no mention in the Budget speech.
Topics such as agriculture and employment that are important in both these states were addressed in Sitharaman’s speech.
Jharkhand
Poll-bound Jharkhand was brought up once by the finance minister in her budget speech.
The Centre has planned ‘Purvodaya’ to step up development in the eastern region of India.
“The States in the eastern part of the country are rich in endowments and have strong cultural traditions. We will formulate a plan, Purvodaya, for the all-round development of the eastern region of the country covering Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh,” Sitharaman said in Parliament on Tuesday.
She said the initiative will cover “human resource development, infrastructure, and generation of economic opportunities to make the region an engine to attain Viksit Bharat”.
The BJP is up against the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, in the state.
ALSO READ: Reason to cheer or cry? What Budget 2024 means for the middle class
Jammu and Kashmir
The Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are expected to be held before September 30.
The Union Territory, which is under the direct control of the Central government, was not mentioned in the budget speech. But the Union Budget has allocated Rs 42,277 crore to J&K, reported PTI.
Bihar
Elections will be held in Bihar next year. The budget’s focus on development in Bihar could be the BJP’s way of making up to its ally JD(U) after denying its demand for special status for the state.
Bihar is set to benefit from the government’s push for tourism. The Central government plans to provide world-class facilities and tourism infrastructure corridors for Vishnupad temple and Mahabodhi temple in Bihar on the lines of the Kashi Vishwanath temple corridor in Uttar Pradesh.
The ancient city of Rajgir, which holds religious significance for Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, will be developed to boost tourism.
“Rajgir holds immense religious significance for Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. A comprehensive development initiative for Rajgir will be undertaken. Our government will support the development of Nalanda as a tourist centre besides reviving Nalanda University to its glorious stature,” Sitharaman said in her budget speech.
The government will allocate Rs 26,000 crore for road connectivity projects in Bihar. It has planned financial assistance to the state through multilateral development agencies.
Power projects, including establishing a new 2400 MW power plant at Pirpainti, are also in the pipeline. “The government will also set up airports, medical colleges and sports infrastructure in Bihar,” she said.
The Centre will provide Rs 11,500 crore to the state for flood mitigation.
The special attention to the state comes as JD(U) is the second-most important ally of the BJP at the Centre numerically, after the TDP.
Bihar is set to hold polls next year amid a fall in the popularity of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. As Indian Express noted, the BJP-JDU alliance hopes to improve its poll prospects with these budget announcements.
To keep its other ally happy, the Centre has earmarked Rs 15,000 crore for the development of Andhra Pradesh’s capital city.
The government will finance the Polavaram Irrigation Project, which the finance minister said is the “lifeline for Andhra Pradesh and its farmers”.
As Nalin Mehta, the Managing Editor of Moneycontrol, wrote in his piece, the “importance given to Andhra Pradesh and Bihar in the budget underscores the new political realities that underpin the Modi government in its third avatar. While the central government ruled out the demands for Special Category status for Bihar and Andhra ahead of the budget, the Finance Minister’s speech outlined a clear political focus on these two states.”
With inputs from agencies
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
