INDIA bloc leaders to meet on Fri to discuss strategy during budget session

Leaders of several parties of the INDIA opposition bloc would meet here on Friday morning to chalk out their joint strategy during the budget session of Parliament.

Sources on Thursday said the leaders would meet in the chamber of Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge at 10.30 am on Friday and discuss their joint strategy.

Various parties of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have been coordinating their floor strategy during Parliament sessions and have moved unitedly to corner the BJP-led Centre on various issues.

Congress MP Manish Tewari responded sharply to Indian economist and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's presentation of the Interim Budget for the fiscal year 2024-25, labelling it a 'vote-on-account' whose only goal is to keep the government solvent for the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

As soon as the budget for 2024-25 was made live, Congress MP Tewari told ANI, "It is a 'vote-on-account' which has only one purpose to keep the government solvent for the first quarter of the current fiscal year."

The Congress leader also expressed concern about the high budget deficit and said, "What's worrying is that there is a budget deficit of Rs 18 lakh crores. This means that the government is borrowing for its expenditure. This number is only going to increase next year."

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also said that the Interim Budget 2024-25 was presented in rhetorical language with very little concrete implementation.

"It was one of the shortest speeches on record in the Budget. Not very much came out of it. As usual a lot of rhetorical language, and very little concrete implementation. The Finance Minister talked about foreign investment without acknowledging that that investment has come down significantly," Tharoor told ANI.

"She talked about a number of things which are couched in vague language like 'confidence' and 'hope' and so on. But when it comes to hard figures, very few figures are available. This is going to be a very disappointing speech in terms of being couched entirely in generalities and without enough substance nor any willingness to address the specific problems of the economy," added the Congress leader.

Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal said, "This budget was hollow. There was nothing for the youth, women, farmers...I saw arrogance when they said that they would present the Budget in July. You cannot take any election for granted."

DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran said that the budget can be rated zero when it comes to delivery.

"The Finance Minister took a long time to hail praises but delivery was zero. They are going to present a white paper on the previous government... Nothing much has happened in the last 10 years. The people of the country are already disappointed. Moreover, you realise that performance incentives are given to the bridge companies, and not going to the deserving ones. People are rejected with this budget" Maran said.

Newly elected AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal called the budget disappointing.

"This is a disappointing budget. Inflation and unemployment are at their peak in the country but there is nothing about it in the budget...It is a disappointing budget for the common people" the AAP MP said.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati said that the budget presented by the Central Government today in the Parliament, before the Lok Sabha elections, is more of an "election gimmick" than reflection of the ground reality.

"In this way, it is very sad and worrying to deny the life of the people of the country suffering from immense poverty, unemployment and rising inflation etc. Along with this, if there was a ground reality in the government's claims and promises related to the country's economy and development, then more than 80 crore people here would not have been forced to live a life in need of free ration," she wrote on X.