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Delhi neglected: AAP on Union budget
New Delhi: Ahead of the February 8 assembly elections in the national Capital, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled
New Delhi: Ahead of the February 8 assembly elections in the national Capital, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Centre of “not giving any priority” to Delhi in the 2020-21 Union budget.
Alleging “step motherly” treatment to Delhi, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal directly linked the Union budget with the elections in the Capital, which is barely a week away.
“Delhi had a lot of expectations from the budget. But, once again, step motherly treatment has been meted out to the people of the city. If Delhi does not figure in the priority list of the BJP only, then why should the city’s people vote for the party?...” Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.
The AAP national convener questioned the ability of the BJP to fulfil its promises after the Delhi election. “…It is also questionable that when the BJP is already disappointing Delhi before elections, will it fulfil its promises after the elections then?” Kejriwal asked.
The election results will be announced on February 11. On January 16, Kejriwal had asked the Centre to give more funds and make “big announcements” for the national Capital so that the upcoming government – be it of the AAP, BJP or the Congress – can use it for the betterment of Delhi.
Later in the day, deputy chief minister and Delhi’s finance minister Manish Sisodia, in a press conference, said the city’s people have been “deceived” by the BJP through the Budget. He said neither did the Centre increase Delhi’s allocation in Central taxes, nor did it allocate any funds to the municipal corporations.
“The share in Central taxes of Delhi has remained stagnant at Rs 325 crore since 2001-02. The Delhi government has repeatedly requested the Centre to increase this to at least Rs 7,000 crore. We had asked for Rs 1,250 crore in the 2020-21 (BE) and Rs 1,150 crore in 2019-20 (RE) as basic and performance grants to the BJP-ruled MCDs. But, they (Centre) gave nothing in the Budget,” he said.
“This is despite the fact that BJP leaders had in 2017, before the MCD elections, publicly declared that they would get funds for the MCDs directly from the Centre. What happened to their promise? It was a Jumla (joke). The BJP needs to answer why it is starving its own ruled MCDs of funds?” Sisodia asked.
On the revised income tax structure, Sisodia said the middle-class had been cheated with it. “They have made the tax structure so complex that there will hardly be any savings for the salaried class. There is no change in the existing tax structure for those who want to remain in the existing structure and for those who may want to opt for the fresh announcement, they will have to let go their insurance policies and other tax saving polices,” he said.
In the education sector, the AAP alleged the Centre had rather decreased its allocation. “I expected the BJP government will increase the education budget because according to their own National Education Policy, 6% of the GDP should be spent on education. Last year, the education budget was 3.6% of the GDP and this year they decreased the share to 3.2%. This clearly shows the apathy of the BJP towards education,” the party said.
