NEW DELHI: The focus of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the senior members of the ‘cohort’ while presenting the budget seemed to have been on how the NDA could keep the chief ministers of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh in good humour, and the budget is indisputably the first ‘litmus test’ for the coalition in this regard.
Talking to businessbenchmark.news, a veteran politician from Indian National Congress (INC) vouched that the stakes are high for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) this time, as the existence of the government depends on the support of the two proven tacticians in Indian Politics – Nitish Kumar and Chandra Babu Naidu, who might not hesitate to pull the rug from under if they don’t like the going of the game.
Though the government at the Centre enjoys a majority in the House with 293 members, the support from 16 members of Chandra Babu Naidu’s Telugu Desam and 12 from Nirtish Kumar’s Jananta Dal (United) is quite critical as BJP alone could garner only 240 – way short of a required majority of 271.
And hence, the whims of Chandra Babu Naidu and Nitish Kumar are crucial here. No wonder, a big part of the financial allocations during the budget speech hovered around two states, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, with a larger focus on the former.
NK Premachandran, a prominent Opposition MP from Kerala, described the budget as highly discriminatory against the state. Kerala’s Finance Minister, KN Balagopal, had requested for a Rs24,000 crore special package to tide over the critical financial situation the state is facing now, but obviously, the request has fallen on deaf ears.
Premachandran said the budget has failed to address any of the burning issues the country is facing now, especially the runaway prices of foodstuff and vegetables. “This is because, for the government at the Centre, the priorities are essentially different as we all know,” he added.
Maintaining majority a tough call
It’s never been a secret that antagonizing Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar (United) or Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu (Telugu Desam Party) could prove to be too costly an exercise at this juncture for the NDA ‘management team’ led by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A politician from the BJP side confided to businessbenhmark.news that Kumar and Naidu never made a hard bargain on the number of Cabinet berths during the discussion; they were easily tamed with the offer of two ministers each, one being of cabinet rank.
For both, the state politics is more important and hence may have made a trade-off and opted to settle for a big share of allocation to their states while presenting the Union budget, as this would better protect their political ambitions within their respective states.
Bihar is the real winner
Allocations to Bihar really stand out. At the outset, the finance minister announced an additional 2-lane bridge over river Ganga at Buxar at a total cost of Rs26,000 crore.
She further stated that power projects, including setting up of a new 2400 MW power plant at Pirpainti, will be taken up at a cost of Rs21,400 crore, adding that new airports, medical colleges and sports infrastructure in Bihar will be constructed.
While making a commitment of an additional allocation to support capital investments, Sitharaman assured the state that the requests of Bihar Government for external assistance from multilateral development banks will be expedited.
Since the plans to build flood control structures in Nepal are yet to progress, the budget speech stated, “Our government, through the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme and other sources, will provide financial support for projects with estimated cost of Rs11,500 crore.
These projects include the Kosi-Mechi intra-state link and 20 other ongoing and new schemes including barrages, river pollution abatement and irrigation projects. In addition, survey and investigation of Kosi related flood mitigation and irrigation projects will be undertaken by the Union Government.
Underlining the immense spiritual significance of Vishnupad Temple at Gaya and Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, the finance minister assured that comprehensive development of 17 Vishnupad Temple Corridors and Mahabodhi Temple Corridors will be supported, modelled on the successful Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor, and transform them into world class pilgrim and tourist destinations.
“Our government will support the development of Nalanda as a tourist centre besides reviving Nalanda University to its glorious stature,” the FM added while making allocations to the state of Bihar.
Andhra Pradesh too..
Reminding the Lokh Sabha that the NDA government has made concerted efforts to fulfill the commitments in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, the finance minister stated that recognising the state’s need for capital, “we will facilitate special financial support through multilateral development agencies.”
Sitharaman further stated, while presenting the budget, that in the current financial year Rs15,000 crore will be arranged, with additional amounts in future years. She also added that the Union government is fully committed to financing and early completion of the Polavaram Irrigation Project, which is the lifeline for Andhra Pradesh and its farmers.
The largesse extended to Nitish Kumar’s Bihar was significantly larger compared with Andhra Pradesh, and has been construed as an acknowledgement to the political clout and acumen Nitish Kumar enjoys in the country’s polity.
