Hyderabad: Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders called the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Friday as a pro-poor and middle class-friendly one, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and other parties of the twin Telugu states expressed disappointment saying it made no major announcement for the welfare of farmers and the unemployed.
While Sitharaman said that India was set to become USD 3 trillion economy in the current fiscal and hoped to reach USD 5 trillion in the next few years, opposition parties called it anti-poor and a complicated play of numbers.
Political leaders were also unhappy that the Centre did not make any specific mention of funds for any irrigation projects, announce any new project or fund for schemes pertaining to the Telugu states.
State BJP president K Laxman, however, hailed the budget, saying it reflected the aspirations of 130 crore people of the country. Former Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya said the Budget gave a push to rural economy by supporting community professions through various schemes. He said it reflected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for rural development with modern facilities. Another BJP Leader and former minister DK Aruna said the Budget revealed the PM’s plan to give a positive push to inclusive growth, while praising allocations for welfare schemes.
However, TRS MP from Khammam Nama Nageshwara Rao said the Budget did not cater to needs of the poor as no subsidies were offered to irrigation projects. Former MP B Vinod Kumar said, “We had given proposals for Kaleshwaram (seeking funds for the irrigation project)... But, nothing specific has been given (to Telangana)." said
The Centre had categorised national highways into one and two, but no national highway in Telangana fell under the first category, Kumar said. Upgrade of district hospitals into medical colleges was a good scheme though it wouldn’t help Telangana as there are medical colleges in almost every district, he said.
Sitharaman talked about using Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority funds for provision of safe drinking for every citizen ('Har Ghar Jal' by 2024), but it is difficult to implement as the Supreme Court has issued stringent guidelines on the matter, he said. “No allocation is made to this ambitious programme," Kumar said. The allocation of around Rs 6,000 crore to the NDA government's health scheme 'Ayushman Bharat' is quite less, he said.
Congress MP from Malkajgiri Revanth Reddy said that despite hailing from southern state, Sitharaman became a ‘puppet’ in the hands of the Modi government and slammed the Centre for deliberately not allocating funds for education and employment.
Another Congress parliamentarian N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the Budget belied expectations with regard to addressing issues of farmers, unemployment and others. "The budget is very disappointing. Everybody expected that some great ideas and schemes would be announced to address unemployment, farmers' issues, youth and industries. We feel no great schemes have been announced for women, farmers, youth and other sections of society," he told reporters in Delhi.
YSR Congress Party MP Vijaya Sai Reddy said the Budget did not allot funds for new capital city of Amaravati, or irrigation projects in Andhra Pradesh.
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) politburo member Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy alleged that the budget did not provide any relief to the salaried class. It contained no programmes to make farming profitable, he said. Party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu flayed the Modi government for ignoring the special status demand of the state, besides refusing funds for the Polavaram project.
(With inputs from PTI)
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