Opposition parties on Monday criticised the NDA Government’s Budget for largely favouring corproates, and being anti-poor and non-favourable to middle class.
Participating in the debate, regional parties alleged there was gross reduction in the allocation to States. Intervening during the debate, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, however, said a majority of States would stand to gain due to implementation of the 14th Finance Commission recommendations suggesting 10 per cent hike in devolution of funds to them.
Initiating the debate, Congress leader Veerappa Moily said most of the initiatives announced in the Budget were started during the time of the UPA. He regretted that the Government decided to postpone the fiscal consolidation programme by one year despite the benign fiscal environment, driven mainly by fall in crude oil prices in the international market. The Budget has failed to provide roadmaps for either implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1, 2016 or reduction of the corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent, Moily said.
“RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and renowned banker Deepak Parekh had already made their assessments about your Budget. Hope you have taken note of it,” Moily said.
AIADMK leader Thambidurai, who is also the lok Sabha Deputy Speaker, accused the Government of favouring the corporates and focusing on getting foreign funds through FDI while reducing incentives for the poor and the middle class.
“It is high time... There is criticism also. Try to see that the common man is benefitted and not the corporates. It is a bureaucratic budget, not common man’s budget... I don’t find any difference between UPA’s and your Budget... It is not NDA Budget, it is UPA-III budget,” said Thambidurai. Cutting across party lines MPs welcomed Thambidurai’s suggestion to increase MPlAD funds to Rs25 crore.
BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab said it is unfortunate that the high expectations of people on Modi Government have not been met as the middle class has not been provided any tax benefit and neither has funds been earmarked for them. Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy termed the Budget as the “most anti-farmer” and “corporate friendly” one. He said there were no concessions for the middle class attacking the Government for not raising the Income Tax slab, terming it as an “anti-middle class step”.
BJP’s Hukum Dev Narayan Yadav hailed the Budget and attacked the Opposition saying they were criticising it just for the sake of it. Yadav cited examples and anecdotes that put the House to splits as he attacked Congress, saying it had caused immense damage to farmers and rendered them poverty-stricken on the streets of Delhi.