Lucknow : BSP Chief Mayawati on Thursday accused the central government of not allocating enough funds to the state of Uttar Pradesh in this year’s budget. She backed the anger and protest by the opposition parties over the alleged bias and imbalance between different states in the 2024 budget, adding that the central government prioritised political gains over national interests.

In a post on the social media platform X, 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.”

BSP chief Mayawati backed the decision of non-BJP-ruled states not to participate in the Niti Aayog meeting. She even questioned the fairness of the government for not paying proper attention to a poor and backward state like UP with a huge population, adding that it is very important for the Centre to give priority to the country and public interest.

She said, “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.”

Earlier, Chief Ministers of some of the non-NDA states decided to boycott the NITI Ayog meeting, which is to be held on July 27, alleging the impartial allocation of the funds to non-NDA states in this year’s budget.

In his statement, MK Stalin said “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.