Debate on state budget: Opposition targets govt for ‘false projections’ of fiscal position
CHANDIGARH: The opposition SAD-BJP and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday termed the budget presented by finance minister Manpreet Badal as “false projections of state’s fiscal position”.
During the discussion on budget, the most scathing attack on finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal came from SAD member Bikram Singh Majithia, who alleged that the budget estimates smack of “thoughtlessness, escapism and arrogance”.
He said the FM had claimed that numbers did not lie. He said as per the budget estimates, the state had suffered a loss of Rs 4,000 crore in own tax revenues, with a loss of Rs 951 crore in VAT, Rs 525 crore in state excise, Rs 250 crore in stamp duty and Rs 345 crore in vehicle registration taxes.
Majithia said the state also suffered a loss of Rs 1,515 crore in state’s non-tax revenue, taking the entire loss as per budgetary estimates to Rs 5,450 crore.
“A sum of Rs 9,000 crore which was to be released on account of 148 schemes was withheld. The FM has increased the state debt by Rs 66,000 crore in three years and it is likely to go up by Rs one lakh crore by the end of this govAAP ernment’s tenure. Is it called a surplus budget?” he asked.
Majithia said the Manpreet has done “window-dressing on a bad budget and this is akin to putting lipstick on a pig.
MANPREET HITS BACK AT MAJITHIA
As Majithia ended his speech,
Manpreet stood up and took a dig at the SAD leader. “Dhindse wali gall ni bani. (You couldn’t match Dhindsa). I am missing him,” said Manpreet in a reference to expelled SAD leader and former finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa, who used to lead the Akali charge during the budget discussion.
Majithia the retorted, “At least, you admitted that Parminder used to raise people’s issues”.
Congress member Kuljeet Nagra, while participating in the discussion, compared the state government’s achievements in the field of education in Punjab with that of Arvind Kejriwal-led government in Delhi where there had been improvement.
NAGRA LIKENS BADALS WITH KAURVAS
He also compared the Badal family with Kaurvas. “In Mahabharata, there was a father (Dhritrashtra), his son and brother-inlaw Shakuni. Punjab also had a government for ten years where there was a father, his son and son’s brother-in-law. That government ruined generations,” said Nagra.
Notably, Majithia is brotherin-law of former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. Majithia was not in the House when Nagra was speaking.
CM’S ASSURANCES DIDN’T WORK, CLAIMS CONGRESS MLA
Meanwhile, Congress MLA Surjit Singh Dhiman left the treasury benches embarrassed when he counted works in which assurances given by the chief minister did not yield any results.
“The promise to make Mandi Ahmedgarh a subdivision was made by none other than the CM. But nothing has happened till now. The work on Ahmedgarh bypass is still pending despite CM’s assurance,” said Dhiman, while praising some points in the budget.