The INDI Alliance members together could not cross 230 seats: FM says on Opposition criticism that Budget is 'kursi bachao'

Taking on Opposition parties that termed the Budget as “kursi bachao” with a special focus on coalition parties and states of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said a number of announcements have been made for various states.
 
“The INDI Alliance members together could not cross 230 seats (in the Lok Sabha). BJP alone got 240 seats. With the pre election alliance, we have formed the government a third time, she underlined at a post Budget press conference on Tuesday.
 
“Kursi bachane waale baat karne waali partiyaan thoda soch lein. Unki alliance 37 parties mein 230 seats paar nahin kiye and woh bol rahe hain kursi bachaane ke liye… (Parties that are talking about saving the government should think first. Their alliance with 37 parties could not even cross 230 seats and they are talking about saving the government,” the FM said.
 
Highlighting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been elected for a historic third term, the minister said he is making a number of announcements for states. The Budget has also made a provision of Rs 1.5 lakh crore for long-term interest free loans this year also to support the states in their resource allocation, even without the Finance Commission recommending it.
 
She underlined that projects that are sent by every state are duly looked into and those that can be financed are taken up.
 
In what is being seen as a bid to meet demands of the NDA’s key allies – Telegu Desam Party and Janata Dal (United), the Union Budget 2024-25 has announced various schemes and incentives for their respective states of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar although a special package was not announced for them
 
These include proposals such as a Purvodaya scheme, for the all-round development of the eastern region of the country covering Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, facilitation of Rs 15,000 crore as financial support for Andhra Pradesh through multilateral development agencies, as well as various schemes and infrastructure projects for Bihar.

Rejecting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticism of the Budget that it did not offer anything to the state, the FM said that even if the name of a state is not mentioned in the Budget, it does not mean it doesn’t get anything in the Budget at all. “As per the proposals, schemes, different projects in different states, every state will get what they have proposed for or what the schemes want to reach out for. No state will get missed out,” she stressed.
 
The Purvodaya scheme includes West Bengal and was named in the Budget. “The intention was not to leave out any state,” she said. She also said that in schemes which are meant for all states, West Bengal didn’t want to be a part of them. “Let me reassure all states, every state is covered under everyone of the schemes that the PM has launched,” the finance minister said, adding that no state is left out because they are not named in the Budget speech.