Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala finance minister KN Balagopal expressed dissatisfaction over the 2024 union budget stating that the budget did not consider Kerala’s request of providing a financial package of Rs 24,000 crores and a Rs 5000 crore allocation for the Vizhinjam International Seaport project. Mr Balagopal termed the budget as a ‘political gimmick’ for the government’s ‘survival’ at the centre.
The Kerala finance minister has labelled the budget as a ‘political gimmick’ and a manoeuvre by the BJP led NDA government to consolidate its allies rather than addressing the critical requirements of the state government.
“This is a budget that completely disregards the demands and needs of the state. The state’s name has not even mentioned once in the budget speech. The union governments approach undermines the principles of federalism”, he said.
Finance minister Balagopal accused the NDA government for using the budget as a tool of survival rather than addressing the regional disparities and providing support to states like Kerala.
“The government at the centre has used the budget to ensure that its allies are intact by providing huge allocations to few states. Kerala is a state that has requested central allocation when I had gone and met the Finance minister. But the budget does not suggest any such allocations made”, he said while addressing the media.
“Once BJP opened its account in Kerala, it closed the states account. We had sought a package as per the fiscal responsibility and the budget management Act. But the state did not receive any. Also, our requests on the Vizhinjam project and AIMS were also not addressed in the budget”, he added.
Kerala finance ministers comments comes at a time of an ongoing tension between the state and the central administration over financial allocation and fiscal policy of the state. The state had earlier approached the Supreme Court against the centre over non-allocation of funds.
Meanwhile, BJP state president K Surendran countered the state finance minister and stated that the union budget is a wholistic budget that has taken into account all sections of the people. He added that Kerala has been provided the required financial allocations and the state government’s criticism against the union budget stems purely from political indifference.
KN Balagopal says that the state had requested Rs 24,000 crores as a financial package and Rs 5000 crores for the overall development of Vizhinjam project. However, no mention of these two aspects were found in the budget Kerala States News India: Top News India, States News, States News Headlines, Online State News India, State Politics news
