Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday termed the Union Budget as a “copycat” and alleged that it is not for the progress of the country but to save the Modi government.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget for 2024-25, her 7th straight presentation, surpassing the record of former prime minister Morarji Desai. This was the first budget during Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s third term in office.
In a post in Hindi on X, Congress chief Kharge said, “The Modi government’s ‘copycat budget’ could not even copy the Congress’ Nyay Patra properly! The Modi government’s budget is distributing half-hearted ‘rewadis (freebies)’ to dupe its coalition partners so that the NDA survives.” “This is not a budget for the ‘progress of the country’, it is a ‘save Modi government’ budget!” he said.
He said after 10 years, limited announcements have been made for the youth who are bearing the brunt of the “slogan of two crore jobs per year”.
“Only superficial talks have been held for farmers — one and a half times MSP and doubling of income — all turned out to be electoral fraud! This government has no intention of increasing rural wages,” Kharge said in the post.
“There is no revolutionary scheme for Dalits, Adivasis, backward classes, minorities, middle class and rural poor people like the one implemented by the Congress-led UPA. The word ‘poor’ has become just a means of self-branding, there is nothing concrete!” the Congress chief alleged.