“Many didn’t get justice (in Union Budget). We are fighting for justice…This budget is just to satisfy their allies…They have given nothing to anyone,” said Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, ahead of the protest.Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav came down on the Budget, stating that the government failed to take any concrete steps to reduce inflation.”We were all demanding that farmers should get MSP, but the support price is given to the alliance partners who are saving their government rather than the farmers…The government could not take any concrete steps regarding inflation. Uttar Pradesh did not get anything. UP should have gotten a double benefit from the double-engine government. I think the people of Lucknow have angered the people of Delhi. Its result is visible in the budget. So what is the benefit of the double engine?” Akhilesh told reporters ahead of the protests.Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said opposition-ruled states have been ignored in the budget and termed 2024 Union Budget as “PM Maharashtra Virodhi Yojana.””This protest is against the discrimination in the budget. All the opposition-ruled states have been ignored… We witnessed ‘PM Maharashtra Virodhi Yojana’ in the budget yesterday. Maharashtra is the highest tax-paying state, yet we don’t get our share in return,” Chaturvedi said.Terming it ‘discriminatory’ and ‘Kursi-bachao’, Congress leader Manicakm Tagore claimed the budget was done to save the BJP government.”It’s a discriminatory Budget. It’s unfair for the states that are suffering. They are not able to get their share. Tamil Nadu had asked for flood relief, it was not given. There was no project for Telangana. Flood was there in Himachal, no relief was given. It is a discriminatory Budget towards the states not ruled by the BJP. It’s a ‘Kursi-bachao Budget’. It is just to save their government. Nothing is there. NRGS funds, education funds, education loan have been cut down. Middle-class is going to suffer. This government betrayed everybody,” Tagore said.Notably, the decision to protest was made during a meeting of the INDIA bloc parties at Kharge’s residence on Tuesday evening. The meeting was attended by Rahul Gandhi, TMC leaders Derek Obrien, Kalyan Banerjee, AAP leader Sanjay Singh, CPI leader P Sandosh Kumar and CPM’s K Radhakrishnan, among others.
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