Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has presented the country’s budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 in Parliament. The budget is currently being discussed in both houses of Parliament. During the debate in the Rajya Sabha, when the Congress President referred to the Finance Minister as ‘Mataji’ (a term of respect meaning ‘Mother’), Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar intervened. Dhankhar remarked that the Finance Minister is equal in status to the Congress President’s daughter.

Speaking about the budget, Congress President and leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, stated that except for two states, no other state received anything. He criticized the budget, saying that while the majority of states are left empty-handed, only two states are getting special benefits, referring to them as having “pakoras and jalebis” (a metaphor for extra perks). Kharge listed Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Odisha, and Delhi as the states that received nothing and expressed his disapproval, saying he had never seen such a budget before.

Kharge remarked that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who hails from Karnataka, was expected to allocate the largest share of the budget to her home state. However, he noted that this did not happen and expressed his criticism. When Jagdeep Dhankhar intervened during his speech, Kharge responded by saying, “I speak up because she is an expert at speaking. ‘Mataji’ is an expert in addressing people.” In response, the Chairman told Kharge that the Finance Minister is not ‘Mataji’ but rather like his own daughter.

Kharge rejected the Chairman’s comment and continued, “In places where opposition parties have been elected, and in areas where the public has rejected you, nothing has been allocated. If this continues, and if there is no balance, how will development occur? Today people are with you, but tomorrow they may be with others. This budget has been presented to please certain individuals and to protect the chair. Therefore, the INDIA coalition will oppose this throughout the country.”