AAP in Punjab, Congress in Himachal Pradesh term Interim Budget as biased

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithaman addresses the press conference after presenting the Union Interim Budget 2024 at Parliament, at the National Media Centre, in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government in Punjab and the Congress Government in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday expressed disappointment and termed the Centre’s Interim Budget for 2024-25 as biased.

Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said there is nothing for Punjab in the Budget and the injustice to the State is pretty evident. In the past 10 years, the BJP-led government at the Centre had only taken decisions that disappointed and harmed the people of Punjab. “The Union Budget of the last 10 years of the BJP Government shows that the BJP always discriminated against Punjab and tried to deprive Punjabis any economic benefits,” he alleged in a statement.

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He said that funds worth thousands of crores of rupees, which were to be given to Punjab under various national schemes, were outstanding with the Centre. “For this, we have written several letters to the Finance Minister and requested release of funds, but till now the Central Government has not given even a single rupee of that outstanding money to Punjab,” he added.

In Shimla, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the Interim Budget had ailed to meet the expectations of the people. “The Budget is merely a financial web to trap the people in its luring promises. The Budget’s focus is to woo the voters rather than to strengthen the economy,” he said.

“Once again, the interests of Himachal Pradesh have been ignored in the Budget and not even a single penny has been provided, despite knowing well that the State suffered loss of lives and property during the recent disaster,” the Chief Minister said.