Opposition terms Budget as 'love letter' BJP says it will generate employment

     New Delhi, Jul 25 (PTI) The opposition continued its attack in Parliament on the government on the second day of Budget discussion over budgetary allocations, claiming it read like a gratitude letter to NDA allies, but the BJP asserted that it will spur employment and help India in its march for all-round development.
     Lok Sabha also witnessed an ugly spat between Congress' Charanjit Singh Channi and Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu.
     Participating in the debate in the lower house, Sasikanth Senthil of the Congress claimed that the Budget reads like a "gratitude letter, a love letter" to only two states while the rest of India is "neglected like a step child".
     Making a forceful assertion, BJP's Raj Kumar Chahar questioned the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for their contribution to increase farmers' income.
     He claimed the opposition was creating a "narratives of lies" to create suspicion in the minds of the people.
     During the course of the debate, the opposition members also said the government's focus on privatisation of public sector companies has reduced job opportunities for youths and the advent of artificial intelligence will further aggravate the problem.
     Channi blamed the central government for an "undeclared emergency" in the country.
     During a debate, the former Punjab chief minister also held the BJP government responsible for farmers being termed Khalistanis. He added that his home state Punjab was ignored in this year's budget.
     Channi said, "It's not a budget to save the country, it's just to save their government. They haven't addressed the floods in Punjab, haven't raised wages and have ignored Punjab in this budget."
     During the course of the debate, Lok Sabha was adjourned twice in the post-lunch period as a war of words broke out between the treasury and opposition benches, triggered by Channi's spat with BJP's Ravneet Singh Bittu.
     Participating in a debate, Channi referred to the assassination of Bittu's grandfather, former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.
     This led to a war of words between Channi and Bittu, who recently quit the Congress to join the BJP.
     Bittu, the minister of state for Railways and Food Processing Industries, countered by making certain personal remarks against Channi and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, triggering an uproar.
     The war of words between the ruling and the opposition benches went on even after Channi concluded his speech.
     As Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Tatkare Sunil Dattatrey started his speech, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee objected to a minister taking the seat next to the member.
     Speaker Om Birla clarified that seats have not been allotted yet and the minister was sitting on a seat meant for the NDA members.
     Banerjee then said he would also sit on a different seat, and sat on the treasury benches' side. He later returned to his seat.
     As the ruckus continued, Jagadambika Pal, who was then in chair, adjourned the House till 3 pm.
     The House resumed normal functioning after it met at 3 pm.
     Shiv Sena member D Mane later took at jibe at Banerjee, saying to sit in the treasury benches required people's mandate.
     As the opposition questioned sops for Bihar, being governed by NDA's key ally JD(U), BJP's Vivek Thakur said the Congress and its allies cannot digest the development of the state.
     He said nothing was done for decades on flood mitigation but now things have changed.
     In Rajya Sabha, AAP MP Raghav Chadha said the government's decision to remove indexation benefit on sale of old property will result in huge inflow of black money in real estate and investments in the sector will go down.
     Asking the government to roll back the proposal, Chadha said people will never be able to buy their "dream homes".
     "Restore indexation on long-term capital gains. Throughout the world, to woo investors to invest, they are incentivised. In this country, by removing indexation we are disincentivising the investor class," he said, adding that removing indexation is not imposing tax but it is equivalent to "penalising investors".
     Congress Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Surjewala alleged that the minimum support price (MSP) has become 'maximum suffering' for farmers under Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government and the budget has failed to address the issues of people involved in farm activities.
     Surjewala claimed that the the budget is an attempt to save the coalition government, appease allies and take revenge for defeat.
     "When the finance minister began the budget speech with three words -- farmers, poor and youth -- the whole nation was filled with expectations but within minutes it was clear that this budget is 'kursi bachao, sahiyogi dal patao, aur haar ka badla lete jao budget' (save the government, appease allies and take revenge for defeat)," he said. PTI UZM AO GJS DP RKL MSS MJH NAB KSS
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)