Interim budget faces flak from Oppn, termed as 'farewell speech'

The Opposition hurled brickbats at P Chidambaram’s interim budget that showcased UPA’s achievements at length, calling it a ‘farewell speech’ and a “populist budget that will hurt the economy”.

The leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley dubbed the interim budget a ‘farewell speech of the finance minister (FM)’, saying, “He (Chidambaram) inherited an 8.5% GDP growth rate and exits on a 4.5% growth rate.”

Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal quipped, “Despite having so many Harvard-educated economists, the government couldn’t come out with an economic policy that helped the common man”, hours after the FM said his mother and Harvard taught him “the value of hard work”.

The budget wasn’t a hit with Left parties either. With elections due this summer, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury hoped for necessary correctives in the next budget as he felt the UPA’s budget “will hurt the economy, employment will go down and prices will rise.” Veteran CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta found no investment to turn the wheels of the economy and no concern for unemployment in the budget.

BSP chief Mayawati also said she had found “nothing new” after studying “every point of the budget”.

First Published: Feb 17, 2014 22:52 IST