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Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, both ex-chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and supporters of the ruling coalition at the Centre, described the budget as anti-people.
“I have never seen such an anti-people budget in my political life. This is a budget for the Congress. You can give new trains for Rae Bareli, the constituency of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, but ignore Bundelkhand and Poorvanchal. Uttar Pradesh needs rail infrastructure for economic development,” said Mulayam Singh Yadav. Mayawati said the budget was anti-people and alleged it would affect both the middle class and poor because the government had “raised fares through the back door”.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was the first to complain that the budget was disappointing because his state needed infrastructural development and had been largely missed.
Of the 67 express trains introduced, a considerable portion has been given to poll-bound Rajasthan, with seven express trains. Three new ones were introduced for Andhra Pradesh. Karnataka, where elections are also due, got an express train from Bangalore to Mangalore and from Mangalore to Kacheguda in Andhra.
“The railway minister has increased the fare in a roundabout manner by increasing reservation, tatkal charges. There are also indications of a possible further raise. They are burdening common people. The budget has no direction. It has only one direction, to kill the projects announced by Trinamool Congress ministers. West Bengal has been singled out especially, as all the projects like Kolkata Metro’s expansion are being neglected. Anyway, the Congress party is going to lose the next general election,” said Saugata Roy of the Trinamool Congress.
Minister Pawan K Bansal has given his own constituency, Chandigarh, four new express trains, which will pass through it. These have been carefully planned; they would cross Hazoor Saheb in Maharashtra, and Anandpur Saheb and Amritsar in Punjab, all places of religious significance for Sikhs.
No new initiative has been introduced for the northeast states, where Assembly elections have just concluded in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya.
The Bharatiya Janata Party said the budget lacked the vision to build railway infrastructure and would lead to further inflation for the common citizen. “Passenger fares were hiked before going into the budget session. Now the government has introduced a dynamic fuel adjustment component on freight rates that will result in a five per cent increase. Any increase in freight rates is bound to push all-round inflation in the country,” said party head Rajnath Singh.
