The opposition parties in the West Bengal Assembly today described the state budget as a 'populist' one, delivered with an eye on the Panchayat polls which is due in the middle of this year.
All the major opposition parties in the state -- the BJP, CPI(M) and Congress -- believed that the Trinamool Congress government today placed a populist budget with the election in mind.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said, "State Finance Minister Amit Mitra has placed a populist budget ahead of the panchayat elections. There is nothing new in it."
Leader of the Left Legislature Party, Sujan Chakraborty said sops were announced in the budget to keep people happy before panchayat poll, "but we have to see implementation of these projects".
"The TMC government is trying to befool the common people. But we know people in our state is very much intelligent and they will give their verdict independently without being influenced," he said.
Leader of the opposition in the state Assembly, Abdul Mannan, strongly criticised the state government for such a populist budget just before panchayat poll.
"It's nothing but an attempt to take advantage in the coming Panchayat poll," Mannan said.
"Mamata says her government has given employment to 90 lakh people since they came to power, but there is no reflection of it in reality," he said.
Mannan also said that the Mamata Banerjee government's budgetary allocation for development purpose was merely 9 per cent, which was about 20 per cent even in Bihar.
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