"26 States Weren't Named During UPA Era": Finance Minister Defends Budget

Union finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, under Opposition attack over her union budget in parliament for days, today came prepared to address their long list of grouses. The biggest of these had come from chief ministers of Opposition-ruled states -- that all the largesse has been directed at two NDA allies, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.

For days, the finance minister has been pointing out that the budget speech is only the highlights and all states have received their share. Today she took it a step further, presenting the results after trawling through the budget speeches of the UPA era.

"I have been picking up on Budgets since 2004-5. In 2004-5, 17 states were not named in the budget speech. 16 states not named in 2006-07... In 2009, 26 states were not named -- Bihar and UP," she said. "I want to ask the UPA government -- did money not go to those states," she added, while responding to the debate over the budget.

"I humbly state that all members know that if a state is not named doesn't mean money does not go to them. It is a misleading campaign. It pains me to know that they could say that if you have not mentioned a state state, it gets nothing," she said.

"If you want to distort, create a sense of fear you can go about distorting data. In the last few years, we have ministers go to each state and explain how much is given to each state," th eministr added.. 

The minister also read out a series of figures -- this year's and the last -- to counter allegations that social sector and welfare schemes have been neglected. The Opposition, led by Rahul GAndhi, has also alleged that there was nothing for farmers, small traders and MSMEs.

"The Budget allocation for the department of agriculture and farmers' welfare was only Rs 21,934 crore in 2013-2014. However, in 2024-2025, it has increased to Rs 1.23 lakh crore," the minister said.

Pointing out that it is a five-time increase, she said, "More than Rs 3.2 lakh crore have been disbursed to over 11 crore farmers under PM Kisan since its launch".

Yesterday, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi had launched a fierce attack on the government over the budget, pointing out areas where it was silent, starting with paper leak and caste census.