The Congress on Friday alleged that the Government presented a full-fledged Budget instead of an interim one, and said it was not a vote on account, but an “account for votes”. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Government’s Interim Budget, will have implications on the national elections due by May. “It’s an election Budget,” said Manmohan Singh.
On being asked about the big income tax gift for the middle class and farmers, Manmohan Singh, who was the Finance Minister in the Narasimha Rao Government, said, “In these circumstances of the case, concessions to farmers and concessions to middle class will obviously have implications in the election”. Singh is widely recognised for the economic reforms which he announced in 1991 when he was the Finance Minister. He said the Government has not worked out the expenditure in the Interim Budget.
While Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Government destroyed the lives of farmers over the past five years and the announcement of “Rs17 a day” for them was an insult, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram also alleged that the Finance Minister Piyush Goyal tested patience by giving the “longest” Interim Budget speech in recent memory.
“Dear NoMo, 5 years of your incompetence and arrogance has destroyed the lives of our farmers. Giving them Rs17 a day is an insult to everything they stand and work for,” Rahul Gandhi tweeted using hashtag ‘AakhriJumlaBudget’.
Presenting the Interim Budget, Goyal sought to address some of the distress that the farm sector has been facing. He said the scheme will be “fully funded by the Central Government”.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, addressing a press conference after the Government presented the interim budget, said “My one line comment on the budget is that it was not a Vote on Account but an Account for Votes,” the former Finance Minister said. “It was not an Interim Budget. It was a full-fledged Budget accompanied by an election campaign speech. By doing so, the Government has trampled on time-honoured conventions,” he said.
Chidambaram said a Government confident of returning to power would have respected the conventions. “It is crystal clear that the Government has no hope of returning to power and has, therefore, acted desperately and recklessly, and in violation of the Constitution,” he said.
The big takeaway is that the present Government has further weakened fiscal stability and for the second year in succession the Government has missed the fiscal deficit target, he said. All of the announcements are “last-gasp announcements” by a Government whose term will effectively end in about 90 days, Chidambaram said.