E-Paper
Akhilesh, Maya criticise Budget; SP chief says ‘nothing for U.P’
Reacting to special packages announced for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh in the budget, Akhilesh Yadav claimed that despite Uttar Pradesh being instrumental in Narendra Modi’s rise to prime ministership, the state found no mention in the finance minister’s speech.
LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav criticised the BJP government for the Union Budget 2024, claiming it ignored development initiatives for Uttar Pradesh and was against the interests of the state’s youth and farmers.
While reacting to the Budget in Delhi on Tuesday, he also posted a poetic criticism in Hindi on his X account, saying, “The 11th budget (of Modi government) has issues of unemployment, price rise, farmers, women, and youth missing...This budget too is a bundle of hopelessness; thank god even under such circumstances people are alive.”
Reacting to special packages announced for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh in the budget, Akhilesh Yadav claimed that despite Uttar Pradesh being instrumental in Narendra Modi’s rise to prime ministership, the state found no mention in the finance minister’s speech.
Akhilesh said that the budget’s announcement of a highway from Buxar in Bihar should have been extended to Uttar Pradesh’s Purvanchal Expressway as well.
He said that Andhra Pradesh’s ruling TDP and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U), which were part of the BJP-led NDA, received special attention. Akhilesh, who is the Kannauj MP, told reporters in Delhi that this was a political maneuver to maintain their alliance and save the government.
Meanwhile, BSP chief Mayawati said that the budget lacked the necessary reformist policies needed for the upliftment of the country’s underprivileged sections. “The Union Budget presented in Parliament today follows the same old pattern, where except for a handful of rich and wealthy people, it offers little hope of good days for the country’s poor, unemployed, farmers, women, labourers, marginalised, and neglected communities and is more full of disappointment for them,” the BSP chief said in a post in Hindi on X.
“This new government also lacks the required reformist policies and intentions for the upliftment of over 125 crore underprivileged sections and the provision of basic facilities for them. Will people’s lives become happy and prosperous with such provisions in the budget?” she said in the post.
