At least four chief ministers, including three from the Congress, are set to boycott the NITI Aayog meeting scheduled for July 27 in protest against the “discriminatory” Union Budgetpresented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday.
While Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin made the announcement at a press conference on Tuesday evening, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal, in a social media post at night, wrote, “The Union Budget presented today was extremely discriminatory and dangerous, which completely goes against the principles of federalism and fairness that the Union Government must follow. In protest, INC CMs will be boycotting the NITI Aayog meeting. This government’s attitude is completely antithetical to Constitutional principles. We will not participate in an event that is solely designed to hide the true, discriminatory colours of this regime.”
The Congress CMs include Telangana’s Revanth Reddy, Karnataka’s Siddaramaiahand Himachal Pradesh’s Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu.
“We don’t feel Kannadigas are heard, and hence there is no point in attending the NITI Aayog meeting, ” Siddaramaiah posted online. “We have decided to boycott the NITI Aayog meeting, which will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra-Modi on July 27, as a mark of protest.”
“Despite my earnest efforts in calling for an all-party MPs meeting in New Delhi to discuss Karnataka’s essential needs, the Union Budget has neglected our state’s demands,” Siddaramaiah said. “Even our farmers’ demands to approve Mekedatu and Mahadayi have been ignored. There was no attempt to rectify their sin of reducing funds to our state under various categories. Funds for metro and other infra projects are still a distant dream.”
He said the PM had not looked beyond Andhra Pradesh and Bihar in the Budget in order to protect his government.
“This budget is anti-people and has completely neglected the poor, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in particular. A big injustice has been done to the farmers in this budget. Farmers have been demanding the creation of the Minimum Support Price Act for five years. But there is no mention about this in the budget,” Siddaramaiah said.
Stalin said Tamil Nadu had suffered the “biggest betrayal” in the Budget.
He expressed a strong discontent with the central government’s fiscal policies and allocations that have “consistently ignored the needs and demands of Tamil Nadu”. He also highlighted the negligible increase in allocation for crucial sectors such as health, education, and agriculture, describing it as “alarming given the current needs of the state”.
He criticised the Budget for failing to address critical issues like unemployment and inflation which, he said, are “severely affecting the common people”.
He pointed out that the allocation for state welfare schemes has been drastically cut, with no mention of any new initiatives to support the economic development of Tamil Nadu. “The state government has been continuously demanding a fair share of central funds, but this budget has once again ignored our legitimate demands,” he said. The reduction in funding for social welfare programs, according to Stalin, will “directly impact the most vulnerable sections of our society”.
He said the state’s request for financial support to improve road and transport infrastructure has been overlooked. “It is also disappointing to note that there has been no increase in the allocation for infrastructure development in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
He described the Budget as “short-sighted” and accused the Centre of failing to take into account the ground realities faced by the states. “The budget lacks a long-term vision and is more focused on short-term political gains,” he said.
Stalin said DMK MPs would stage a protest on Wednesday in Delhi. “The central government boycotted Tamil Nadu in the Union Budget,” Stalin said, echoing similar sentiments expressed by his colleagues in the INDIA bloc. He accused the BJP of selectively announcing schemes to satisfy a few regional parties, ultimately to keep the NDA government afloat. “To satisfy a few regional parties that made a ‘minority BJP’ into ‘majority BJP’, schemes were announced for a few states,” he said.
He also highlighted the regional imbalance in disaster relief funding. While Tamil Nadu submitted a detailed report requesting Rs 37,000 crore as disaster relief, he said, the Centre has released only about Rs 276 crore so far. In contrast, Bihar alone will receive Rs 11,500 crore for disaster mitigation. “This is a great injustice to the people of Tamil Nadu,” Stalin said.
While they have not joined the NITI Aayog boycott so far, West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee and Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan also criticised the Budget for ignoring their states.
