Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday presented the first budget of the Modi Government 3.0, allocating substantial funds for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, two key states that supported the NDA in forming the government. The budget also included significant announcements for Himachal Pradesh. However, there were no new provisions for Maharashtra, which is preparing for assembly elections later this year. Maharashtra, home to the financial capital of the country, Mumbai, had high expectations for budgetary announcements. The Finance Minister's speech, however, made no mention of Maharashtra. Post-budget, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi criticized the budget, calling it the "PM Sarkaar Bachao Yojana."
"I think this budget should be called 'PM Sarkaar Bachao Yojana' because they have realised if they want to save this Govt for the next 5 years, they would need their alliance partners to be happy. After denying a special status to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, they have given them funds. Maharashtra continues to be ignored by the Centre. It has become a state where you keep taking in money from," Chaturvedi said.
Several opposition leaders also slammed the BJP and central government for ignoring Maharashtra in the budget. Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray took to X to question Maharashtra's exclusion.
"I can understand the BJP wanting to save its government and giving Bihar and Andhra Pradesh a huge sum of the budget. But what is Maharashtra’s fault? That we are the largest taxpayer? What did we get against what we contribute? Was Maharashtra even mentioned once in the budget?" Thackeray asked.
Thackeray further criticized the BJP, stating, "Why does the BJP hate and insult Maharashtra so much? This isn’t the first time; through the entire past decade of BJP’s government, we have seen this bias against Maharashtra. It’s a shame that despite unconstitutionally forming a government and running the most corrupt regime in our state, Maharashtra gets nothing in return."