Reacting to the Union Budget on Monday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his coalition partner, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, termed it a “disappointing budget”.
They also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had failed in his “examination” as the “budget promises acchhe din (good days) only for the hoarders of black money and not for the common people”. “It is a disappointing budget and the Prime Minister has failed in the examination…the budget promises acchhe din only for those who have hoarded black money”, said Mr Kumar talking to journalists in Patna. Earlier on Sunday Mr Modi had said in his monthly radio broadcast that he had an “exam on Monday” alluding to the upcoming budget.
Taking a potshot at Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Mr Kumar, who was speaking to journalists in Patna, said: “It appears a budget presented not by a Finance Minister or an economist but by a lawyer who put a lot of emphasis during his speech on dispute settlement.”
Mr Kumar also expressed concern over the lack of mention of any “special package” or of BRGF (Backward Regional Grant Fund) in the Annexure, which has been a genuine right of the State following the bifurcation of Bihar to create Jharkhand state.
Mr Prasad also termed the budget “disappointing and anti-people”.
“The budget has nothing on the special package which the Prime Minister had earlier promised during the Bihar poll campaign or the grant of special status to the State,” he said.
Taking at dig at budget’s focus on welfare allocation for the farmers of the country, Mr Prasad asked, “When they (BJP) have been given mandate only till 2019 how can they promise to double the income of farmers by 2022..what is the guarantee?”
“PM Modi has emerged as a “ bhusgol vidyarthi (dull student) in the examination and got rusticated in the examination for lying and cheating people by offering nothing for any section of society in the budget,” Mr Prasad said, adding that “in place of bringing black money to the country, the budget has come out with an amnesty scheme for black marketers and capitalists.”