Budget a damp squib, says Opposition

New Delhi: Opposition parties Congress and BJP said that AAP’s budget would be a disappointment to the residents of the capital. Apart from the usual suspects, the new party, Swaraj India, floated by AAP’s disgruntled members also criticised the budget.

Terming the third budget of the AAP government “disappointing”, Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari has said that the budget presented by the deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has on the one hand totally disappointed the Delhiites and on the other it has once again shown the insensitivity of the Arvind Kejriwal’s party and government towards the legislative proceedings in the house when the finance minister had to delay the presentation of budget for more than 15 minutes due to lack of quorum.

The Congress said that the budget is anti-development. They also said that said the Delhi government had failed to spend 20 per cent of estimated planned expenditure showing its lack of interest in development. The Congress carde said that according to the Economic Survey, Delhi’s economic growth has slowed down for the first time in 5 years from 8.82% in 2015-16 to 8.26% in 2016-17.

Congress spokesperson, Sharmistha Mukherjee said, “The AAP government takes pride in allegedly doing ‘great’ work in the field of health and education. But in this Budget, the AAP government has stated that 10,000 new beds will be added this financial year. However, going by its dismal previous records, it seems this claim is nothing but a ‘jumla’,” she added.

“Although the Budget has disappointed in all the spheres, today, on International Women’s Day, it has disappointed women the most because the government has not made any provision in the budget for CCTVs or other safety measures,” said Mr Tiwari.

Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta claimed that the much-publicised ‘outcome budget’ of the Kejriwal government for the year 2017-18 presented by Mr Sisodia has turned out to be a damp squib. “Even the quorum could not be completed for 10 minutes. Only 25 out of 67 AAP MLAs could be present when deputy chief minister began his speech. It is claimed to be first of its kind in India but it is doomed to be a failure because its step-by-step implementation is not linked to time frame work. It would have been better if Mr Sisodia had brought a time frame work budget rather than outcome budget,” said Mr Gupta.

Picking holes in the Delhi government’s annual Budget, Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav  said the finance document obfuscates more than it reveals.with selective presentation of favourable statistics and non-acknowledgment of limits and challenges.