Union Budget 2024: Opposition INDIA bloc MPs are set to stage a protest inside and outside the Parliament on Wednesday against the “discriminatory” Budget tabled by the Narendra Modi-led NDA government on Tuesday (July 23).

Top leaders of INDIA bloc parties on Tuesday huddled at Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence to discuss the Opposition’s strategy after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her seventh consecutive Budget.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, KC Venugopal said, “The concept of a budget has already been destroyed by this year’s Union Budget. They have completely discriminated against most of the states. So the general sentiment of the INDIA bloc meeting was we have to protest against this.”

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Many opposition leaders criticised the Budget for being partial towards Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, the states which are ruled by two key allies of the BJP in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), JD(U) an TDP. Rs 15,000 crore was allocated for the development of Andhra Pradesh’s new capital Amaravati while Rs 26,000 crore was allocated to Bihar for several road connectivity projects.

The Congress has alleged that the budget had “blacked out” states where there are non-BJP governments. It has also announced that its chief ministers will be boycotting the NITI Aayog meeting scheduled for July 27.

“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,” said Congress’s KC Venugopal.

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Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, called it a “Kursi Bachao” Budget. “Appease Allies: Hollow promises to appease allies at the cost of other states. Appease Cronies: Benefits to AA with no relief for common Indian. Copy and paste: Congress manifesto and previous budgets,” Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

The leaders who attended the meeting at Kharge’s residence were Congress MPs Rahul Gandhi and KC Venugopal, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs Sanjay Raut and Arvind Sawant, DMK MPs TR Balu and Tiruchi Siva, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MP Mahua Maji, Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee, Aam Aadmi Party MPs Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, among others.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said DMK MPs will also stage a protest in Delhi against the Budget. The DMK chief also announced that he will boycott the NITI Aayog meeting scheduled for July 27 and alleged that the Centre “ignored” Tamil Nadu in the Budget.