Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Thursday accused the central government of not allocating enough funds to Uttar Pradesh in this year’s budget. She emphasised that the central government prioritised political gains over national interests and also backed the anger of several opposition parties over alleged bias and imbalance between different states. 

The BSP supremo questioned the fairness of the central government for not paying proper attention to a poor and backward state like Uttar Pradesh with a huge population and added that it is very important for the Centre to give priority to the public interest.

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Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, Mayawati said, "In the Budget presented by the NDA government in the Parliament, anger and protest against discrimination, bias and imbalance between different states for political gains rather than national and public interest is natural, although such step-motherly treatment by the Centre is nothing new today. BSP has also faced this in UP."

The BSP chief backed the decision of non-BJP-ruled states not to participate in the Niti Aayog meeting. "The non-BJP ruled states that are unhappy and afflicted with the Union Budget have decided not to participate in the Niti Aayog meeting regarding this, whereas how fair is it not to pay proper attention in the budget to a poor and backward state like UP with a huge population? The Centre needs to give priority to the country and the public interest."

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This comes after the chief ministers of a few non-NDA states made the decision to abstain from the July 27 NITI Ayog meeting, alleging the impartial allocation of the funds to non-NDA states in Budget 2024.

Hitting out at the Centre, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced the boycott of the NITI Aayog meeting over no mention of Tamil Nadu in the Budget. "While the budget includes announcements for states ruled by BJP allies, there is no guarantee these states will receive the promised funds, just as Tamil Nadu has been denied funds for the Chennai Metro for the past three years. Shockingly, the words 'Tamil' or 'Tamil Nadu' do not appear even once in the entire budget speech. In light of this blatant neglect of Tamil Nadu, I have decided to boycott the NITI Aayog meeting scheduled for July 27,” Stalin said.