New Delhi, Feb 11 (PTI) The CPI(ML) MPs staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha during Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's reply to discussions on the budget on Tuesday and said she failed to address keys issues affecting the people of Bihar and the country, including a special status for the state.

"Despite the finance minister repeating Bihar's name in her speech numerous times, the failure of the government to address pressing questions of youth, farmers, women, poor and marginalised has exposed the hypocrisy of the BJP-led NDA at the Centre," the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation said in a statement.

Not satisfied with the minister's reply, Karakat MP and the party's floor leader in the Lower House Raja Ram Singh and Arrah MP Sudama Prasad staged a walkout.

In a statement issued later, they said the budget failed to declare a special status for Bihar and include the increased reservation for communities in the state in the 9th schedule following a caste survey.

The leaders of the Left party also said the budget failed to address the concerns of share croppers, who form 70 per cent of the farming community, and include them in the PM KISAN scheme.

"The government, despite repeated movements on ground and demands from people, has failed to initiate the construction of Indrapuri reservoir (Kadwan Dam). The government has failed to renovate and modernise the historic irrigation canals of Sone river canals, which are a lifeline for farmers," they said.

The CPI(ML) added that the budget did not address the issue of unemployment among youngsters with increased budgetary support and by filling up the vacant positions in the central government.

"The JD(U)-BJP government in Bihar and at the Centre cannot fool the people of Bihar with their jumlas," the party said. PTI AO RC

Special status for Bihar sought as budget omits reservation safeguards and programmatic support, prompting parliamentary walkout. Parliamentary protest centred on the budget's omission to grant special status to Bihar and to enshrine increased reservations from a caste survey into the Ninth Schedule. CPI(ML) MPs contended the budget also failed to include sharecroppers in central income-support, to fund irrigation projects (Indrapuri reservoir/Kadwan Dam and Sone canals), and to address youth unemployment through increased allocations and filling vacant central government posts.