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'Budget's focus on poll-bound states, stepmotherly treatment to north': Amarinder Singh
Claiming that the Budget was “reflective of the BJP-led central government's total apathy towards the common man, the middle class and farmers”, the Punjab CM said that it was part of Centre’s efforts to sideline non-BJP ruled states.
Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh accused the Centre of giving step-motherly treatment to his and other north Indian states while allocating funds in the Union Budget, news agency ANI reported. The focus of this fiscal's budget was on the southern states and Kolkata as assembly elections are scheduled to be held in the regions in the next few months, he said.
Claiming that the budget was “reflective of the BJP-led central government's total apathy towards the common man, the middle class and farmers”, the Punjab CM said. “The budget also manifests the central government's persistent efforts to sideline non-BJP states like ours, as well as its anti-federal mindset,” Singh said referring to the gap between the fiscal deficit targets fixed for the Union government and states.
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The CM also slammed the Centre for not adequately addressing the vital sector of defence despite the growing border threat from China and Pakistan. The health budget too was down amid Covid-19 pandemic, he said.
Raising objection to the lack of constitutional guarantee for the minimum support price (MSP) for farmers, he said, “And did the finance minister not find it necessary to even mention constitutional guarantee for MSP, one of the key demands of the farmers battling cold and lathis on the doorstep of New Delhi for over two months now."
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He also criticised the proposed Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) in the range of 2.5 to 100 per cent on certain commodities, highlighting that agriculture had been the only well-performing sector for the country amid the coronavirus lockdown.
While presenting the budget, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman noted that while applying this cess, the government has taken care not to put additional burden on consumers on most items.
