Non-BJP-ruled states line up to pan annual exercise

Chief ministers of non-BJPruled states on Wednesday said the budget was disappointing and discriminatory as it ignored their demands and failed to address the country’s economic concerns.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the budget and called it “opportunistic” and “not futuristic”. “The Centre presented the Union Budget for 2023-24. We have heard that it is an ‘exceptional budget’. But what is so exceptional about it? We have 3.7 crore unemployed youths in India. There was not a single word about unemployment and jobs. The handful of jobs that we had have also been abolished. It is a dark budget,” Mamata said.

Addressing a programme at Bolpur in Birbhum district, the Trinamool Congress leader said that thanks to inflation, the changes in income slabs would not help. “This budget is completely opportunistic and not futuristic. There is no ray of hope in this budget. Give me half an hour and I will show you how to prepare a proper budget for the poor,” she said.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann accused the finance minister of presenting an anti-Punjab, anti-people, anti-farmers and directionless budget.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader said Punjab had requested `1,000 crore for modernisation of the Border Security Force and the state police to combat the smuggling of drugs and weapons from across the border especially through hi-tech drones. However, the Centre had ignored the request, he said. Mann said that at pre-budget meetings, the state had flagged off the necessity to start Vande Mataram trains from Amritsar and Bathinda to Delhi. This demand was also ignored, he said.

The chief minister said the Centre had also failed to deliver on its promise to double farmers’ incomes.

Chhattisgarh had a lot of expectations from the budget, but the Centre yet again disappointed, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said.

“We were expecting new trains from Ambikapur and Jagdalpur, jobs for the unemployed, respite to the common public from inflation. We have been cheated,” the Congress leader said.

The budget had given an impression that it was an exercise for development projects in BJP-ruled states, particularly those going to polls, DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said. Unemployment, price rise and inflation were ignored and there were no constructive efforts aimed at financial independence of states, he said.

The annual exercise had not given any confidence to the poor, middle class people and to marginalised, oppressed people, Stalin said. There was no project announcement for Tamil Nadu and no fund allocation for an AIIMS hospital in Madurai, the chief minister pointed out.

Though there were welcome features, such as increase in rebate limit in personal income tax, new nursing colleges and interest free loan to states, the rebate was applicable only for the new tax regime, Stalin said. He suggested that the increase in rebate should be extended to the old tax regime as well.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the budget did not attempt to solve the growing economic disparities in the country and it was disappointing that the long-sought demands of Kerala for an All India Institute of Medical Sciences and rail development projects in the state found no mention. Finance Minister K N Balagopal said allocations in major schemes, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, and food subsidies were cut down drastically.