Congress Criticizes Union Budget, Claims Jharkhand Ignored for Political Gain

The Jharkhand unit of the Congress criticized the Union budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, alleging it ignored the tribal-dominated state in favor of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. They claim this is due to Jharkhand being governed by a non-BJP party, predicting consequences in upcoming elections. Conversely, the state BJP argues the budget benefits all societal sectors, emphasizing tribal and regional development.

The Jharkhand unit of the Congress criticized the Union budget on Tuesday, alleging that it has completely ignored the state and its people.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget for the 2024-25 fiscal in Parliament the same day.

'The Union budget has nothing for Jharkhand. Under political pressure, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh have been given many things, but the tribal-dominated state has been completely ignored,' Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur told PTI.

'Jharkhand suffers the Centre's apathy because it is ruled by a non-BJP government. It wants to create pressure on the state government and evoke anger among the masses to serve their political agenda,' he alleged.

Thakur said the BJP would face consequences in the upcoming assembly elections in Jharkhand.

On the other hand, the state BJP claimed that the Union budget has taken care of all sections of society, particularly the low-income groups and middle-class families.

'This is a development-oriented budget and it would contribute a lot to achieving the dream of Viksit Bharat (developed India) by 2047,' senior BJP leader Amar Bauri said.

Bauri, who is also the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, said, 'The budget has many things that would immensely help Jharkhand. It proposes PM Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan by adopting saturation coverage in tribal-majority villages and aspirational districts. The project will cover 63,000 villages and benefit five crore tribal people out of the 12 crore tribal population in the country.'

He also said that the 'Purvodaya' plan, coined for all-round development of the eastern region of the country, would benefit Jharkhand.

'I think the budget has taken care of all sections of society, particularly youth, women, tribal, low-income groups, and middle-class families,' Bauri said.