Amid heated debates over the Union Budget in the Rajya Sabha, in a light moment, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar corrected Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge who called Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman 'mataji', saying that "she's like your daughter".
The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, while participating in the discussion on the Budget, said that the plates of all states except two, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, were left empty.
"In the budget yesterday, everybody's plates were empty except for two, they were served pakoda and jalebi in their plates," Kharge said while referring to the allocations to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh in the Union Budget.
"I have never seen a Budget like this. This Budget was meant for appeasement and to save their chair. So, I condemn this, we condemn this," the Congress national president added.
Meanwhile, House Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar urged Kharge to let Sitharaman respond.
"Let me finish. I know mataji is an expert at speaking," Kharge said. To this, Dhankar laughingly retorted saying, "Not mataji, she's like a daughter to you." Dhankar's remark prompted a laughter in the House, both amongst the ruling side as well as the opposition benches.
The Congress MP then continued saying that all of this has been done to save the chair, adding that the Opposition will protest against it. "How will development happen if there is no balance?" he asked.
Responding to the Leader of the Opposition, Sitharaman said that the Budget did not ignore any state and said that the Congress-led INDIA bloc was trying to mislead the citizens.
"In every Budget, you do not get an opportunity to name every state of this country," Sitharaman said amid heavy opposition's sloganeering in the House.
She cited the example of Maharashtra, for which the Union Cabinet has planned to set up a port on Vandhavan, a town in Palghar. Howvever, she said, the state was not mentioned in the Budget speech.
"Does this mean that Maharashtra feels ignored? If a particular state is named in the speech, does it mean that programmes of the Government of India don't go to these states?" she asked.
Sitharaman said that the Congress-led opposition was deliberately trying to give the impression that the Union Budget has given to the states."This is an outrageous allegation," the Finance Minister said in Rajya Sabha.
