'And you have the audacity...?': Nirmala Sitharaman slams TMC over 'discriminatory budget' charge

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Sitharaman said, "Yesterday, the TMC questioned the Budget, saying nothing has been given to Bengal.

"Let me highlight the fact that several schemes given by the Prime Minister in the last 10 years have not even been implemented in West Bengal. And you have the audacity to ask me now?"

How did Mamata Banerjee react to Budget 2024?

Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday slammed the Modi government's first budget in the third term calling it "directionless" and "visionless".

Banerjee said the budget is filled with "political mission".

"This budget is totally directionless, anti-people, and visionless. This budget has only the political mission. I don't see any light in this budget but darkness," the Chief Minister said.

The Chief Minister, who is the arch-rival of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has slammed the Centre for not giving assistance to her state to tackle natural calamities while the budget has an allocation for Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim for the same purpose.

"They (BJP) come to Darjeeling for votes but forget the people from the district once the elections are over," she said and added, "Floods & natural calamities are an annual ordeal for West Bengal, yet the Centre snubs us from the flood management fund! What's West Bengal's fault? Is it for voting against you?"