There has been a major pushback since Tuesday’s union budget presentation from all the southern states except Andhra Pradesh, with a government led by BJP ally TDP. The chief ministers of these states are rallying their forces to fight against what they call an “anti-people, one-sided, and unjust budget”.
Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy’s call to unite all southern states and rally non-BJP southern leaders against the party reminds one of the 2009 Third Front. This coalition, formed in February of that year with former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda at the helm, aimed to give people a third option apart from the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party. This front had seen several evolutions since such a coalition of parties was first planned. It was called the National Front in 1989 and lasted until 1991. Later, between 1996 and 1998, the bloc regrouped under the United Front, and just before the Lok Sabha elections of 2009, the Third Front was formally launched. This grouping consisted of eight parties: the four Left outfits, AIADMK, JD(S), TRS, and TDP. The show of strength and formal launch was held in Nelamangala on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
Fifteen years later, two major players, Telugu Desam Party and Janata Dal (Secular), have switched sides to support the BJP. The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh and TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu, a key member of the ruling National Democratic Alliance at the Centre, has reaped benefits in the union budget, leaving his southern counterparts seething.
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced special financial support to Andhra Pradesh to the tune of Rs 15,000 crore, with the funds to be generated by the Centre through various development agencies. Another undertaking in Andhra Pradesh that the budget promised financial support for early completion is the famed Polavaram irrigation project. Apart from this, Sitharaman announced funds to build infrastructure in the Kopparthy node (Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor) and the Orvakal node (Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor).
“Not naming states in budget speech does not mean that a state has been ignored. This is an outrageous allegation” — strong words by FM @nsitharaman in Rajya Sabha in response to LoP Kharge’s speech— Aman Sharma (@AmanKayamHai_) July 24, 2024
Karnataka’s Empty Vessel
Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah used his “Chombu” (empty vessel) campaign to depict what the state got out of the union budget, despite the regional party JD(S) being an NDA member. He said, “Mr Modi is unable to see states other than Andhra Pradesh and Bihar only because he cares only about retaining his post as PM.”
Sitharaman, who has been elected as a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, did not mention the state in her budget speech. However, the state capital got a mention as the union budget reduced the allocation for the Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project (BSRP), which includes constructing a 148 km network across four corridors in the city, by Rs 100 crore compared to the previous year. The venture, projected to cost Rs 15,767 crore, was allocated Rs 350 crore, down from last year’s allocation of Rs 450 crore.
What had Karnataka demanded? The Siddaramaiah-led government had previously claimed that the Centre failed to provide Rs 5,495 crore recommended as special grants by the Finance Commission in its interim recommendation. At the time, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman called it a “false and misleading” claim.
“Karnataka contributes over Rs 4.30 lakh crore in taxes. For every Rs 100 Karnataka gives to the Centre, it receives only Rs 13 in return. Karnataka has lost Rs 62,098 crore in tax devolution for the fiscal year 2025-26 due to the transition from the 14th to the 15th Finance Commission,” the CM had told News18 while leading a protest in Delhi earlier this year.
Another demand that Siddaramaiah had made was for matching funds from the Centre after the state had allocated Rs 5,000 crore for Kalyana Karnataka.
“We had requested matching funds for this, but they were not provided. Our farmers have also been greatly wronged as their demand for a law for MSP has been put under cold storage,” he said, adding that despite five MPs from Karnataka being union ministers, they all have failed to secure any benefits for the people of the state.
JD(S), in its defence, said people should not conclude that the state got a raw deal. “I have my own ideas on various development projects in Karnataka. Wait and watch, I will announce good news in the coming days,” a party spokesperson told the media in New Delhi.
Tamil Nadu’s Thirukural Jibe
Karnataka’s neighbour Tamil Nadu, ruled by the MK Stalin-led DMK, ensured that the BJP got nothing in the Lok Sabha polls. The state saw itself receiving the same treatment in terms of allocation in the union budget.
What did TN demand? Stating that Tamil Nadu was completely ignored, CM Stalin attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party for playing favourites to satisfy a few regional parties that helped make a “minority BJP” into a “majority BJP” in the recent elections.
Calling it a political ploy to appease their allies, the DMK leader criticised the BJP for playing on Tamil sentiments for political capital. “The finance minister has quoted extensively from the Thirukkural. PM Modi in his earlier stint would also quote from the Thirukkural, mention the greatness of the Tamil language, and even said during a public meeting that he wished to have been born a Tamilian. Now the budget announcement is devoid of the name of our great state,” said a DMK minister. Interestingly, a local Tamil news channel counted that the FM mentioned Bihar and Andhra Pradesh five times in her speech.
Stalin said that Tamil Nadu had sought a reduction in income tax for the middle class, funds for several developmental and infrastructural projects like the second phase of the Chennai metro rail project, approval for the Coimbatore and Madurai metro rail projects, approval for the express flyover between Tambaram and Chengalpattu, allocation of funds for pending projects under old and new railway schemes, and an increase in the slab rate for houses being constructed under rural and urban housing development schemes among others.
The union budget made no mention of the state. However, it did announce building three crore additional houses under the PM Awas Yojana in rural and urban areas across the country.
Telangana’s Target
Telangana’s CM Revanth Reddy called the Union budget a “Kursi Bachao Budget”, which was antagonistic and discriminatory in nature against south India. Reddy took the fight one step further by saying that the union budget felt like the Centre had “banned” the word Telangana and did not like to utter the name of the state. Despite 18 meetings with the PM, home minister, and other ministers seeking an amendment of rights under the state bifurcation act, funds to build the state after the previous BRS (erstwhile TRS) government had left it in shambles, funding for the Hyderabad metro, developing Hyderabad as a global city, and completion of the ITIR corridor, nothing saw even a mention, said the Congress CM.
“We consider the PM as an elder brother. After being elected as PM for the third time, I requested him to include the necessary funds for our Telangana. Look at the budget; not a mention of the state. It’s as if they don’t want to utter the name of the state,” he said, adding that the funds given to Andhra Pradesh should have also come to Telangana. Addressing the media later, he said he had already written to the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu CMs asking them to join hands with Telangana in opposing the Centre’s move.
Kerala’s Struggle
Kerala too found itself standing with empty hands. This despite leading parties in the state recently appealing to the Centre for a special economic package of Rs 24,000 crore. And just like Karnataka, Kerala too had asked the Centre to release the union government’s share of Rs 3,686 crore spent on centrally sponsored schemes to help the state tide over its current liquidity stress.
Kerala also sought a Rs 5,000 crore special grant to complete work on the Vizhinjam International Port project, expedite permissions for the Silver Line Project, support the establishment of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Kannur International Ayurveda Research Institute, as well as a hike in the support price of rubber.
Kerala felt completely ignored, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said. “This neglect is both disappointing and objectionable,” he stated, adding that the announcements made for states like Bihar and Andhra Pradesh were for the NDA’s political survival and were not pro-people.
