Nirmala Sitharaman
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday called on 10 BJP MPs from Assam and had a pre-budget meeting with the party’s parliamentarians.

Union minister for food processing Rameswar Tali and all BJP MPs from Assam including nine Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha MPs called on Sitharaman at her 15 Safdarjang Road residence and discussed about some critical issues being faced by the state of Assam.

“We have appealed to the finance minister for her intervention so that the tea gardens in the state could be reopened. We have also requested for her intervention to start work on some National Highway projects in the state,” said union minister Rameswar Teli.

Tali said they also raised the issue of reopening of the Cachar and Nagaon paper mills.

Queen Oja, the Lok Sabha MP from Guwahati, said the union minister had listened to them very carefully.

“It was really a pleasant meeting. We have raised some of the major issues of the Northeast in general and Assam in particular,” said Oja.

Sources said the July 5 budget will give much more attention on the completion of the ongoing budget besides announcing some new projects as well.