New Delhi: With the BJP presenting interim budget, its sixth and final one ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, several opposition leaders on Friday attacked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, accusing it of announcing populist schemes intended at confirming re-elections.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to criticise the newly-announced Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, which entails payment of Rs 6,000 annually to each of the 12 crore marginal farmers in the country.
“Dear NoMo, 5 years of your incompetence and arrogance has destroyed the lives of our farmers. Giving them Rs. 17 a day is an insult to everything they stand and work for. #AakhriJumlaBudget,” Rahul tweeted.
Echoing the sentiments, West Bengal Chief Minister and All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee said that there is an economic emergency in the country.
“This government has no moral authority or responsibility to place the budget for five years when they will not be in power; the government will go for expiry. After expiry, if you give medicine, is there any value? What will be the value? This is absolutely valueless,” Banerjee said.
Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy questioned if the budget was prepared by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).
“I want to ask if this budget was prepared by officials of the Finance department or the RSS? In this budget, Narendra Modi has given cotton candy for farmers. When I announced the loan waiver scheme, the Prime Minister mocked it as a lollipop. Friends of the BJP have prepared this budget,” Kumaraswamy said.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday called the Interim Budget for 2019-20 the “final jumla” of the Modi government.
“Final jumla of Modi government: its Interim Budget too completely disappoints Delhi,” AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal tweeted.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh said the Modi government had come out with a blast of ‘jumlas’ after not doing any work for five years.
Meanwhile, CPI leader D Raja alleged the Interim Budget 2019-20 was presented with an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and was a cover-up for the government’s “monumental failure” in managing the economy.
“It is not a growth-oriented budget. No measures were announced to reduce poverty. It is a cover-up for their monumental failure in managing the economy,” he told PTI. The interim budget has been presented keeping an eye on the general elections slated over next few months, he said. (Agencies)
