Sitharaman rebuts Opposition claims of 'Bihar bonanza Budget'

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday termed the opposition parties claims of biasness in fund allocation as “unfounded” saying no state has been neglected by the central government.

Rebutting the opposition MPs' allegations of favouring National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ruled states, especially poll-bound Bihar in the Union Budget 2025-26, Sitharaman said, “it is just an unfounded allegation. I want to dispel the thought from the members.”  

“Is it a Bihar bonanza Budget? Is it a Budget for only one state? Does it mean no other state gets anything? It has been repeatedly being asked and I have been answering it," Sitharaman said while replying to the discussion on the Union Budget in Rajya Sabha.

Opposition MPs have criticised the Union Budget alleging that the states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, West Bengal and Kerala that are ruled by Congress and other parties that are in opposition at centre have been ignored while Bihar and Andhra Pradesh have got bargain deals.  

Sitharaman termed such allegations unfounded and listed the initiatives taken by the central government in the states like Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.

On the government’s capital expenditure (capex), the finance minister said the effective capital expenditure for the financial year 2025-26 is higher than the current fiscal.

“This Budget has been made during a very difficult time. The challenges, particularly the external challenges are very severe, most of which are beyond any projections or predictions,” the finance minister said.

“There are no models that you can build and understand how the trends will be because they are very dynamic. Despite that, we have tried keeping the assessments as close as possible, keeping India's interests as topmost,” she added.

Allaying concerns around the depreciation of rupee, Sitharaman said the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are working to stabilise it. “The fourth quarter of 2024 witnessed extensive currency-related volatility across major countries, not just India. So Indian rupee, like other Asian currencies, depreciated against the US dollar on account of uncertainty pervading the global macro economy,” she said.