NEW DELHI, July 24: Four non-BJP states, including three ruled by the Congress, have decided to boycott the Niti Ayog meeting in Delhi on Saturday in protest against the “discriminatory union budget” that announced bonanza only for the two states ruled by the BJP allies at the cost of other states.
Besides the Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin of the DMK, the Congress chief ministers Siddaramaiah (Karnataka), Revanth Reddy (Telangana), and Sukhvinder Sukhu (Himachal Pradesh) have announced boycotting the Niti Ayog meeting to be chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. More non-BJP ruled states are likely to join the boycott as most of the opposition states are unhappy with the budgetary allocations strongly favouring only Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.
Mr Stalin on Wednesday also wrote a letter to Mr Modi warning him that he would be increasingly “isolated” if he continued to target rivals rather than focus on governance.
The comments by Mr Stalin – whose DMK is part of the Congress-helmed INDIA bloc that put a major dent in the BJP’s ‘abki baar, 400 paar‘ election hopes, including handing it a second successive rout in the southern state – came as opposition leaders unload on the government on the union budget.
“The election is over… now we have to think about the country. Budget 2024 will save your rule… but will not save the nation. Run the government objectively… otherwise you will be isolated.” “Don’t still be vindictive towards those who defeated you… you will be isolated if you govern according to your political likes and dislikes,” the Tamil leader said on X.
The 2024 Union Budget – the first of the Modi 3.0 government – was presented Tuesday, and triggered furious pushback, including claims it has ignored states ruled by non-BJP parties. The Tamil Nadu government, for example, has said no provision had been made for infrastructure projects like the second phase of the Chennai Metro Rail and similar developments in Coimbatore.
There was also no provision, the DMK has said, for funds for restoration of flood-hit areas in Chennai and southern districts; the state asked for ₹ 37,000 crore but has received only ₹ 276 crore so far. There was also no mention of special projects for the state. This has led to a perception, shared by the AIADMK, the Tamil Nadu opposition party earlier allied with the BJP – that the state is, in fact, being ignored by Prime Minister Modi’s government. DMK spokesperson A Saravanan pointed out Tamil Nadu “contributes 10 times (more tax, to the Indian economy) than Bihar… We are the biggest tax contributor.”
The BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit chief K Annamalai, however, shot back slamming Mr Stalin and said the decision to boycott Niti Ayog meeting was “ridiculous.” He claimed that Tamil Nadu had not been mentioned in six of 10 budgets presented by the Congress-led UPA I and II governments.
“Chief Minister Stalin is trying to create an impression that no welfare schemes will be made available to states other than those named (in the Union Budget).” “When DMK was allied with Congress for ten years, Tamil Nadu did not appear in budgets filed for six years. Will you say (in that time), centre did not provide any programs to Tamil Nadu?” he asked.
(Manas Dasgupta)
