Directionless Union Budget focused on five election-bound states: Rajasthan CM

Jaipur: Terming the Union Budget as anti-poor, anti-farmer and without any direction, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday said it was fully focused on the five election-bound states.

He described the budget as a completely disappointing one for Rajasthan and said no concrete provisions were made to address the challenge of unemployment, which was worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chief Minister said the middle-class taxpayers hoped that the Modi government at the Centre would give some relief by changing the income tax slab, but this did not happen.

“Every section of the society has been completely disappointed by this budget,” Gehlot said in a statement.

“The entire focus of this budget was only on the states of West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. It seems to be more five-election state budget than the union budget,” the senior Congress leader said.

Gehlot said the central government has treated Rajasthan ”discriminately”.

“We hoped that the East Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) would get the status of National Project in the budget and Rajasthan would get special state status in ‘Har Ghar Nal’ scheme but this has not happened,” he said.

Regarding the financial crises in the states after the pandemic, Gehlot said the financial resources of the states have been badly affected and the states had hoped that special economic packages would be provided in the budget.

He said that even though the central government has collected a record GST in the last few months, the government is not giving the GST share to the states, which is affecting the development works.

Gehlot said the government should have given a special package to agriculture and real estate sectors.

Besides, he said the Centre disappointed people by not announcing any relief in fuel prices.

He said the budget would serve the interests of big industrialists.

The BJP, which was vocal against foreign direct investment (FDI) during the UPA government, has been promoting it since coming to power which is reflected in the budget presented today, the CM said.

“If in the past, instead of opposing FDI for political reasons, BJP would have supported the UPA in the interest of the country, then the country would have progressed further in this direction,” he further said.