OPPN SLAMS GOVT, CALLS INTERIM BUDGET A 'POLL GIMMICK'

Lacks accountability and nothing for poor, middle class, says Kharge

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NEW DELHI: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that there was nothing for the poor, lower middle-class, and middle-class citizens in the interim budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament and the government did not state how many of the promises it had made had been fulfilled.

He said accountability and vision are "missing" in the interim budget.

Meanwhile former finance minister P Chidambaram said that the Finance Minister did speak about 'minimum government' and 'maximum governance', but in reality, the 'minimum government' has undermined federalism.

Kharge said "I listened to the budget carefully. Nothing was mentioned in this budget for the poor, lower middle class, or middle class. This is their budget only for day-to-day affairs.

They did not give the details of promises made for 10 years, they should have compared how many promises were made and how many were fulfilled.

They should give a comparative statement." The Congress chief also took a dig at the government over references to the work done in the past 10 years and praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"They think that the country got independence only after 2014, and the country is seeing democracy only after PM Modi came to power. What happened to the promise of 2 crore jobs, what happened to bring back black money, and what happened to the promise of doubling the income of farmers?" Kharge said.

In a post on X, Kharge said they expected some new schemes to ease the suffering of poor and middle class from this Interim Budget2024.

Referring to Sitharaman speaking of the government intending to bring a white paper comparing the 10 years of the Congress-led UPA government and that of the BJP-led NDA government, he posed 11 questions.

"How many of the promises made by the government in the last 10 years have been fulfilled? There was no mention of those promises in the Budget.