‘Pay us our dues’: Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren slams Centre for ‘neglecting’ state in Union Budget 2024

Union Budget 2024: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, lashing out at the Centre for “neglecting” the state in the Union Budget 2024 said that the special packages can go to BJP’s “crutches”, referring to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, due to Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu’s support in the NDA that formed the government after the Lok Sabha Election 2024, but Jharkhand should get its dues. 

Soren stated that the Centre owes Rs 1.36 lakh crore to the state, and asked for the dues.

"Who is guilty of discrimination with the state? The Centre owes Rs 1.36 lakh crore to the state, but every BJP leader is silent on this issue. Give a special package to your crutches - pay us our dues," Soren said on X.

"Raghubar Das had left behind DVC's dues of Rs 5,000 crore - which the Centre had deducted from our account without informing us - and BJP leaders were clapping," Soren said, sharing a post by JMM on the microblogging site. "Why are we being neglected despite giving 12 out of 14 MPs in 2014 and 2019 and having 9 (NDA) MPs today?” he asked. 

The Jharkhand CM criticised the Union Budget that, he said, would help the Centre’s ‘billionaire friends’ at the cost of agriculture and ‘loot’ the budget of the farmers.

Soren as well as other Opposition parties have criticised the government for its latest Budget 2024, that had special allocation for states like Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. NDIA bloc MPs, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest in Parliament premises on Wednesday over the alleged discrimination against opposition-ruled states in the Union Budget. Besides them, several MPs of the Congress, TMC, Samajwadi Party, DMK and the Left joined the protest held on the steps leading up to the Makar Dwar of Parliament.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced developmental projects with a total outlay of over Rs 60,000 crore for Bihar, where assembly elections are due next year. Additionally, Rs 15,000 crore has been allocated for the 2024-25 fiscal for the development of Andhra Pradesh's capital city, a project envisioned by N Chandrababu Naidu.