As the Opposition left no stone unturned in attacking the government, alleging that the Union Budget presented last week gave special preference to the states of alliance partners—Bihar and Andhra Pradesh—in a scathing rebuttal, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman responded by citing details from UPA-era budgets. She took a jibe at the previous UPA government lead by Congress asking will it be alight if they (UPA) do the same thing.

“17 States were not named in the Budget Speech of 2004-05. 18 were not named in the Budget Speech of 2005-06. 13 were not named in the Budget Speech of 2006-07. 16 were not named in the Budget Speech of 2007-08. 26 were not named in the Budget Speech of 2009-10,” she said in the Lok Sabha today as the Finance Minister was responding to the debate on the Budget 2024.

Sitharaman has also added that SBI research report which was released in July 2024 said India created 12.5 crore jobs between 2014 and 2023 compared to only 2.9 crore during the 10 years of the UPA government. “The unemployment rate has declined from 6% in 2017-18 to a low of 3.2% in 2022-23. Youth unemployment for the age group 15-29 years has declined sharply from 17.8% in 2017-18 to 10% in 2022-23,” she said.