New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government has through the Union Budget met the first of the demands of its two alliance partners on whom the survival of the government depends– the Telugu Desam Party and the Janata Dal (United) – by providing special packages for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar respectively.
With the BJP only managing to win 240 seats in the recently held Lok Sabha elections and relying heavily on TDP, which won 16 seats, and JD(U) which bagged 12, to stay in power, it was only expected that the government would thank these parties in kind for their support.
Special Packages Provided
The two visits of TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu earlier this month to New Delhi to discuss various financial support and infrastructure projects with the PM and various ministers had already indicated that some special packages would come. And that is precisely what has happened. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has provided four special projects to Bihar at a cost of Rs 26,000 crore besides announcing a new 2400 MW power project in the state at a cost of Rs 21,400 crore. Similarly, Andhra Pradesh has been provided Rs 15,000 crore for its new capital of Amravati and some infrastructure projects have also been announced as part of the Centre’s commitment to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.
.jpg)
Opposition Parties On Special Packages Provided To Bihar & Andhra Pradesh
While these announcements augur well for the two states, the Opposition has not taken kindly to them. Samajwadi Party leader and MP Akhilesh Yadav termed the special packages a political manoeuvre on behalf of the NDA government to “maintain their alliance” and “save” the government.
Congress MP Manish Tewari too attacked the Centre for its partial treat of various states and said the budgetary allocations were influenced by “coalition compulsion”.
“There is a proverb - `The tail wags the dog’. That is the political message of this Budget. Coalition compulsion written all over this Budget,” he said.
