Taking a swipe at the Union government, Congress MP and Lok Sabha leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday described the Union Budget 2024 as a “kursi bachao” (save the chair) budget.
The former Congress chief also claimed that the budget was “copy and paste” job of the Congress manifesto for 2024 polls and previous budgets.
In a post on X, Gandhi said, ” ‘Kursi Bachao’ Budget. Appease Allies: Hollow promises to them at the cost of other states. Appease Cronies: Benefits to AA with no relief for the common Indian. Copy and Paste: Congress manifesto and previous budgets.”
The Congress also slammed the Union Budget as being “more focused on posturing than action” and claimed that the “copy-paste government” has borrowed heavily from the party’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls. The opposition party in its post claimed that the government had “tacitly” admitted that “mass unemployment is a national crisis”, and said the budget has “political compulsions written all over it”.
Former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram has also pointed out that chunks of the Budget appear to be copied from the Congress manifesto released ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, held between April and June.
In a post, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “The Modi government’s ‘copycat budget’ could not even copy the Congress’ justice agenda properly! The Budget is distributing half-hearted rewadis (sops) to dupe its coalition partners so that the NDA survives.”
Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav linked her announcements of several development measures for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh to the BJP’s political compulsion to “save” its government and asked if there was anything for Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state.
Yadav said Uttar Pradesh has given the country its prime minister, claiming that the state’s farmers have received nothing despite the government’s earlier promises of doubling their income.
Meanwhile, the BSP chief Mayawati said while the country is struggling with extreme poverty, unemployment, inflation and underdevelopment, the government at the Centre has no intentions of working towards its upliftment.
