INDIA bloc to protest against discriminatory budget on Wednesday, Congress CMS to boycott Niti Aayog meet on July 27

New Delhi, July 23: The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc will stage a protest against the BJP-led NDA government on Wednesday over the Union Budget-2024, which was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament on Tuesday, a Congress leader said here.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the INDIA bloc floor leaders convened by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge along with party leader Rahul Gandhi at his residence here on Tuesday evening.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said: “Today, we had a detailed discussion on this budget.We will protest against this budget tomorrow outside the Parliament and raise our voice inside the Parliament.”

“This budget is against the federal structure of India,” he alleged.

He also asserted that in the name of development, there was nothing in the budget.

“This is not the budget of the BJP. It is the budget of the country. But, they have presented it as if it is their budget,” Tiwari added.

Meanwhile, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who also attended the meeting said that the INDIA bloc will issue joint statement against Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest.

He said that the statement will include concerns related to Kejriwal’s health and it will join the protest being planned over his arrest.

Earlier in the day, several Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Kharge, KC Venugopal and others had dubbed the Budget as called it “Kursi Bachao Budget (Save the Chair Budget)” alluding to the Narendra Modi-led BJP government’s overdependence on the support of the alliance partner for survival.

Even Congress MPs will be meeting with at 10 a.m. in Parliament to chalk put strategy for the Budget session.

After the meeting, party General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal in a post on X said, “The Union Budget presented today was extremely discriminatory and dangerous, which completely goes against the principles of federalism and fairness that the Union Government must follow.”

He said: “In protest, Congress Chief Ministers will be boycotting the NITI Aayog meeting scheduled for 27 July.”

“This government’s attitude is completely antithetical to Constitutional principles. We will not participate in an event that is solely designed to hide the true, discriminatory colours of this regime,” Venugopal said lashing out at the government.