Opposition's jab over sops to Bihar, Andhra Pradesh

The Opposition on Tuesday slammed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget speech for not focusing on uplifting the poor and prioritising NDA allies like Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) And Nitish kumar's JD(U) at the cost of other states.

Leading the charge against the NDA government, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi termed it a "kursi bachao" (power retention) Budget. While, his party leaders have alleged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman plagiarised the apprenticeship scheme from the party's general election manifesto. The opposition party's chief Mallikarjun Kharge has called it a "nakalchi (copy-paste) Budget".

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that the Union Budget 2024 was a way to retain power as he mentioned special projects for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh - both ally states of NDA.

Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee also called the Budget a seat-saving move. "They have provided Budget boosts to whoever are NDA allies and they (the Centre) want to keep to their side," he said.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati called the Budget less of 'good days' hopes for the poor, unemployed, farmers, women and labourers, and more of disappointment for them.

Delhi Finance Minister and AAP leader Atishi asked why the national capital received not a single penny as its share in central taxes in the Budget 2024 despite paying Rs 2.32 lakh crore in taxes to the central government. She also challenged the BJP to show "even one thing" they did for Delhi in the past 11 years.

Telangana's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao was upset that Telugu daughter-in-law Nirmala Sitharaman gave the state a miss from her special mention in the Union Budget.