Criticising the Union Budget 2024-25, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget in Parliament with declarations aimed at ensuring the political survival of the NDA government.

He said that the budget appears discriminatory towards states, with the Finance Minister ignoring a majority of them, including Kerala.

“The announcements made in the budget are inclined towards the current political survival of the central government. Kerala’s long-term needs, such as AIIMS, have not been addressed. The state has also been neglected in areas like natural disaster prevention and tourism. This neglect is both disappointing and objectionable,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Monday.

Targeting the political survival of the central government, the budget announces projects that ignore the majority of states, he added.

Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal slammed the budget, calling it a gimmick and a political exercise solely intended to protect the interests of the BJP-led NDA government.

“While the Union Budget is bitterly disappointing for the nation as a whole, it has especially failed address any of Kerala’s just demands,” he said.

“Once BJP opened its account in Kerala, they closed the account of the state,” he said, The budget has ignored Kerala’s demand for a Rs 24,000-crore special economic package, a special assistance of Rs 5,000 crore for the Vizhinjam international seaport project and the long-standing demand for an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS),” Balagopal said.

Congress-led UDF Opposition MPs from Kerala termed the budget an exercise for political survival that is devoid of national character and a total disappointment for non-NDA-ruled states.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Tourism Suresh Gopi dismissed allegations that Kerala had been neglected in the NDA government’s budget.

Stating that there is no discrimination against Kerala in the budget and that sufficient emphasis has been placed on creating job opportunities, Suresh Gopi asked whether there are no youths in Kerala.

“What kind of push has been given to the areas where employment opportunities are being created for the youth?” he asked. Regarding the establishment of AIIMS, he said it will definitely come to Kerala. The state government has not given enough land for AIIMS, he added.

Former Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget with the ultimate goal of a developed India. This budget continues Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of high growth, low inflation, poverty reduction, investment, and employment growth.

BJP state president K Surendran said that the third Modi government’s first budget presented in Parliament by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is a step towards a developed India.

“This budget will speed up progress in the infrastructure development and manufacturing sectors. The Union Finance Minister managed to protect the interests of the weaker sections like women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The measures, which will create 4.1 crore jobs and provide one month’s extra salary to new entrants, are sure to raise the hopes of the youth,” Surendran said.