While members from the treasury bench termed the union budget as a ‘dream budget’, Opposition, especially Congress called Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget “underwhelming” and “copied from Congress’s Nyay Patra”.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the union budget 2024-2025 on Tuesday in Parliament. Congress leader Sashi Tharoor said the budget failed to address key issues like income disparity. “It is an underwhelming budget. I didn't hear anything about key issues facing the common man. There is no mention of MNREGA and insufficient mention of steps taken to improve the income of a common person. We have seen far too little from the government on addressing income disparity,” Tharoor told ANI. He added only a token gesture has been made in terms of job creation. ”I welcome only one provision which is abolishing the tax on angel investors. I had recommended it to Arun Jaitley more than five years ago,” he said.
Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee said it was 'kursi bachao' budget. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav termed it a “bundle of despair”. SP MP Dimple Yadav said the budget did not address issues regarding women's safety. “The main concern regarding women is their safety and this issue has not been addressed. The government does not want to take any steps to control inflation. Purchasing power in rural areas is constantly reducing,” she said.
Congress leader and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram took a dig at the finance minister and said he was glad that she read the Congress’s manifesto. “I am glad to know that the Hon'ble FM has read the Congress Manifesto LS 2024 after the election results. I am happy she has virtually adopted the Employment-linked incentive (ELI) outlined on page 30 of the Congress Manifesto. I am also happy that she has introduced the Apprenticeship scheme along with an allowance to every apprentice spelt out on page 11 of the Congress Manifesto. I wish the FM had copied some other ideas in the Congress Manifesto,” he tweeted.
Congress MP Manickam Tagore also said the budget has more or less copied the Congress manifesto. He added the government has denied 'special category' status for Andhra Pradesh.
