West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday dubbed the interim budget for 2024-25 as the “antim” (last) budget of the BJP government at the Centre, indicating that the saffron party will taste defeat in the Lok Sabha polls this year.
Banerjee made the remark during a dharna in Kolkata, which began earlier in the day to demand the state's "dues" from the Centre for various social welfare schemes. "It is not an interim budget, but the 'antim' budget,” she asserted.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had tabled the interim budget on Thursday. The chief minister also said her government has submitted utilisation certificates regarding the usage of central funds since 2011, when the TMC assumed power in the state for the first time.
“Why should we take responsibility for what happened before we came to power, during the Left rule?" she said.
