‘A disappointment’: Oppn parties slam Centre’s allocations
NEW DELHI: The Opposition parties on Tuesday heavily criticised the Union Budget 2022-23, with the Congress calling it a ‘Nothing Budget’ while Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav saying that the budget has “nothing for the common man”.
Labelling the Budget a “Nothing Budget” with no provisions for farmers, youth or the poor, the Congress also accused the government of betraying the salaried and middle classes by not announcing any relief measures for them.
Several Congress leaders, including former president Rahul Gandhi, hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman for presenting a “Lollypop budget”. The opposition party alleged that the government’s “anti-farmer and anti-poor” face is exposed as it has cut fertiliser subsidy and also reduced food subsidy and MGNREGA funds.
“M0di G0vernment’s Zer0 Sum Budget! Nothing for - Salaried class, Middle class, the poor and deprived, Youth, Farmers and MSMEs,” Gandhi said on Twitter. Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the salaried and the middle classes have been affected due to pay cuts and high inflation. “India’s salaried class and middle class were hoping for relief in times of pandemic, all round pay cuts and back breaking inflation. FM and PM have again deeply disappointed them in Direct Tax measures,” Surjewala said on Twitter.
Taking swipe at the central government, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has presented another budget that “picks the pocket of the common man”.
The Samajwadi Party chief Yadav tweeted in Hindi, “All the businesses in India have come to a halt... due to historical recession, lakhs of people have lost their jobs... Income of people has reduced... Because of the pandemic, savings in banks have come down... Now, another budget comes to pick the pocket of the common man... With this, the sad era of BJP is beginning to end! Now UP people say that they don’t want BJP anymore.”
Kejriwal, on the other hand, dubbed the Union Budget a “disappointing” and said it has nothing for the common people.
In a tweet in Hindi, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor noted that people had “high expectations” from the Union Budget during the corona period but there is nothing in it either for the common people or to reduce price rise.”People had high expectations from the Budget during the corona period. The Budget has disappointed the people. There is nothing in the Budget for the general public. Nothing to reduce price rise,” Kejriwal said.
Deputy chief minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, echoed Kejriwal’s concerns as he said the Budget is “extremely negative” for the national capital and betrays farmers of the country.
Expressing disappointment over the Union Budget, the LDF government in Kerala alleged it lacked vision or preparation to face the challenges posed by Covid-19 and instead of empowering the states financially, the budget was weakening them in the backdrop of the pandemic.