“Kursi Bachao Budget. Appease Allies: Hollow promises to them at the cost of other states. Appease Cronies: Benefits to AA with no relief for the common Indian. Copy and Paste: Congress manifesto and previous budgets.”
Rahul Gandhi
The Opposition on Tuesday slammed the NDA-led Central government for the Budget stating that it has nothing for the poor and more about saving the government. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today presented the first budget of the Modi 3.0 government.
‘kursi bachao budget’
Taking a dig at the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee said it is a budget for the ruling NDA and not for India. “This is a ‘kursi bachao budget’ (budget to save the chair). This budget is aimed at saving (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi‘s position. It is a budget for the NDA, not for India,” Banerjee said.
Banerjee further said, “Last time they gave so many projects to Odisha. Now they (BJP) have won (the Assembly polls in the state), so there is nothing for Odisha. There is also nothing for Bengal.” Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav claimed that it has ignored the interests of the youth and farmers. Yadav linked Sitharaman’s announcements of several development measures for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh to the BJP’s political compulsion to “save” its government and asked if there was anything for Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state.
Yadav said, “‘Sarkaar bachani hai toh acchi baat hai ki Bihar aur Andhra Pradesh ko vishesh yojnao se joda gaya hai’…They have increased unemployment in the last 10 years.”
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor termed it an ‘underwhelming budget’. he said that there is no mention of MNREGA and insufficient mention of steps taken to improve the income of a common person. “I didn’t hear anything about the key issues facing the common man. We have seen far too little from govt on addressing income disparity. On job creation, a token gesture was made. I welcome only one provision which is abolishing of tax on angel investors. I had recommended it to Arun Jaitley more than 5 years ago,” he added.
‘Glad Nirmala Sitharaman read
Congress manifesto’
Congress leader P Chidambaram said, “I am glad to know that the Finance Minister has read the Congress Lok Sabha Manifesto after the election results. I am happy she has virtually adopted the Employment-linked incentive outlined on page 30 of the Congress Manifesto. I am also happy that she has introduced the Apprenticeship scheme along with an allowance to every apprentice spelt out on page 11 of the Congress Manifesto. I wish the FM had copied some other ideas in the Congress Manifesto.”
RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha said that this Budget is again a disappointment. “The country’s primary concern is unemployment. The organic model should have been introduced. The core sectors like labour, farmers, youth…there is no out-of-the-box thinking for them,” he said.
‘Pradhan Mantri Sarkar Bachao Yojana’
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi termed this Budget as ‘Pradhan Mantri Sarkar Bachao Yojana’. She said, “In an attempt to save their government for five years, they have given a package to their alliance partners in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. They should be ashamed… they have two alliance partners in Maharashtra. Maharashtra is the biggest tax-paying state, but it has never received funds from the Centre. Don’t we have infrastructure needs?”
Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad said that this Budget presented by PM Modi’s minority government aims to save itself and has ignored Uttar Pradesh and Ayodhya. “This will be costly for the BJP,” he added.
CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said, “The issues like increasing unemployment, inflation and food prices were not addressed properly as they should have been. The government expenditure as per GDP has decreased. The economy will contract so the problem of the people will increase… Subsidies have been decreased… The economic activity has to be increased to increase the employment generation… The incentives to the employers will not increase the employment generation opportunities…”