Delhi budget 2023 to be presented today as home ministry gives nod
2 min read 22 Mar 2023, 06:00 AM ISTThe presentation of the Delhi government's Budget for 2023-24, scheduled for Tuesday, has been put on hold with the Arvind Kejriwal-led dispensation and the central government trading charges over allocations under various heads.
PremiumThe Union Home Ministry approved the Delhi budget on Tuesday following a clarification from the AAP government, paving the way for its presentation in the Assembly today, Wednesday, March 22. However, CM Arvind Kejriwal lashed out and alleged that the Centre had stalled it for ego satisfaction.
He said that the budget, which will now be presented on Wednesday, had been approved "without any change" and questioned the practice of sending it to the Centre for clearance, according to the news agency PTI.
The Delhi Budget was scheduled to be tabled in the assembly on Tuesday, but the AAP government could not do so after the MHA sought clarification on the allocation of funds for infrastructure and advertisements.
While the matter sparked a fresh row between the AAP government and the Centre, the BJP on Tuesday alleged that the Kejriwal dispensation sat on the clarifications sought by the Ministry of Home Affairs for three days and then blamed the Centre for gaining "cheap publicity".
Speaking in the Assembly, Kejriwal alleged that the Centre's objection was a departure from tradition and an attack on the Constitution. “The Delhi government wants to work and not fight. We are tired of fighting and it serves no one. We want to work together with the prime minister, we do not want any tussle."
He said the Centre had raised four queries.
"We replied to them without any other change in the budget. Now, they have given approval to it which proves that their ego was satisfied that the Delhi government bowed down," Kejriwal said.
Taking a dig at the objection of the Centre and LG office that the budget 2023-24 had higher a provision for advertisement and relatively lower for infrastructure, the AAP supremo said that "uneducated" people were posted from top to bottom.
"They said advertisement allocation was higher than that for infrastructure. Uneducated people have been sitting from top to bottom. Which is more - ₹20,000 crore for infrastructure or ₹500 crore for advertisement?" said the chief minister in the Assembly.
He, however, expressed satisfaction over the MHA's approval to the budget, saying "better late than never" and asked what was the need to create an issue over it.
The AAP supremo also asserted that the Lt Governor has no power "to raise any objections, make observations or write anything on a file", as he was bound by the aid and advice of the Cabinet of the elected government.
Kejriwal, earlier in the day, also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged him to clear the budget.
(With PTI inputs)
