Expressing disappointment at the Union Railway Budget presented on Thursday, the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay said that the Railway Minister had emulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi by treating Uttarakhand with apathy in an “anti-developmental” budget. The expectations of Uttarakhand’s public have not been met in the rail budget, he said.
The PCC chief stated, “Such an anti-development rail budget will increase price rise, breaking the back of the general public and the poor while retrogressing the Indian rail to the 18th century. The budget is totally directionless and akin to sugar-coated potassium cyanide. The prime minister Narendra Modi had made statements on facilitating rail connectivity to the Char Dham shrines to deceive the people of Uttarakhand and the nation,” he said. The PCC chief further said, “The BJP State chief and leader of opposition Ajay Bhatt had made big claims to grab newspaper headlines claiming that along with the five BJP MPs of Uttarakhand, he would work to ensure justice to the State in the rail budget. The BJP MPs and the party’s State chief will now have to answer to the people of Uttarakhand as to why they were unable to ensure that the State is treated justly,” said Upadhyay.