Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the annual budget of 2023-24 presented in UP assembly on February 22, saying the budget was directionless and the government, instead of credible solution to unemployment, was only marketing dreams with tall claims of huge investment of over Rs 33 lakh crore in the UP Global Investors’ Summit.
Participating in the debate on the budget of 2023-24, Akhilesh Yadav also touched upon the development works done in the state when he was the chief minister. Yadav, who is leader of opposition in state assembly, also referred to the controversy triggered by his party leader Swami Prasad Maurya over a verse of Ramcharitmanas. He also demanded caste-based census, arguing that the Yogi Adityanath government's claim of `Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas was incomplete without enumerating the actual number of each caste in the state.
“This is the seventh budget presented by the Yogi Adityanath government. Every budget had been described as `historic and largest ever’. No tangible improvement in the situation is visible on the ground across the state. Uttar Pradesh is on top from the bottom in all parameters of development, according to the data of the NITI Aayog,” Akhilesh Yadav said.
Countering the chief minister’s jibe on wisdom, Yadav said, “I lack common sense and wisdom. Chief Minister Yogi should place the information as to how many four-lane roads, highways and major infrastructure projects were completed by his government in the last six years.”
The chief minister, on February 25, in an obvious dig at the dynasty politics of the Samajwadi Party, had said “one can inherit political power, it is difficult to inherit wisdom”.
Questioning the claim of the double-engine government, Akhilesh Yadav said, “UP is not getting any benefit of the double-engine government as the Centre and NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) has not financed major road-expressway projects in the state. It appears that the two engines have collided.”
Accusing the government of selling dreams to the people by holding the jamboree-like investment summit in 2018 and this year, Akhilesh Yadav said “the government’s claims of taking the state’s economy to one trillion dollars by 2026 is mere pipedream”.
“The growth rate during the last five years of the Bharatiya Janata Party government was only 7.8 per cent while the same was 12.2 per cent during the five years of the Samajwadi Party government from 2012-2027. For one trillion dollar economy UP needs annual growth rate of 34 per cent,” Akhilesh Yadav said, and added, “The bureaucrats are misleading the chief minister and he should change his economic advisor.”
The SP chief said the government should come out with a detailed road map for achieving the status of a one-trillion dollar economy and also the sources of finance for achieving this objective.
Questioning the hiring of a multinational company as consultant by the government at a cost of Rs 200 crore, Akhilesh Yadav said, “The opposition is with the government and it should follow the manifesto of the Samajwadi Party.”
Akhilesh Yadav also pointed out the poor utilisation of the budget of major heads of expenditures like the PWD and Health. He said in 2021-22, against the provision of Rs 27,470 crore, the expenditure was only Rs 7,570 crore. Akhilesh Yadav listed the development works like highways, shopping malls, hospitals, elevated roads constructed during his government. He said, “Had the chief minister gone to the World Economic Forum meeting at Davos, UP would have attracted far more investment than the government got investment proposal in UP GIS 2023.”