The Ministry of Home Affairs approved the Delhi Budget for 2023-24, ANI reported on Tuesday. It was scheduled to be tabled on Tuesday. However, the Ministry of Home Affairs put the budget on hold and sought clarification from the Delhi government on the Budget proposals.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday to "not stop Delhi's budget". The Delhi CM wrote a letter to the PM a day after Kejriwal accused the Centre of putting a hold on a state budget for the first time in the country's history. He even charged that the Centre was resorting to "gundagardi".

"This is the first in the last 75 years that a state's budget has been stalled. Why are you upset with Delhiites? Please don't stall Delhi's budget. With folded hands, Delhiites urge you to pass their budget," the Chief Minister was quoted by PTI as saying in the letter.

Sources told PTI that the home ministry sought clarification from the AAP government as its budget proposal had a high allocation for advertisement and relatively low funding for infrastructure and other development initiatives.

However, the AAP government denied the charges saying the total budget size was Rs 78,800 crore, out of which Rs 22,000 crore was earmarked for expenditure on infrastructure and just Rs 550 crore on advertisements. The allocation for advertisement was the same as in the last year's budget, Delhi minister Kailash Gahlot said.

"We have responded to MHA’s concerns and submitted the file back to Delhi's LG, after CM’s approval, at 9pm today. It’s very clear that the concerns raised by MHA are irrelevant and seemingly done only to scuttle Delhi govt's budget for next year. Sad day for Indian democracy," Gahlot said.

Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, the chief minister referred to the Economic Survey report on per capita income rising by 14.18 percent in Delhi said the national capital was doing "exceedingly well" despite obstacles. "Delhi's growth speaks," Kejriwal said in another tweet.

(With inputs from PTI)

First Published:Mar 21, 2023 1:53 PM IST