Budget inflationary, no succour for poor, farmers: Babu

Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu opined that the Union Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha on Monday would break the spine of the poor as it failed to suggest any measure to contain the rising prices of essential commodities.

Talking to media persons at Telugu Desam Legislature Party Office, the former chief minister stated the Budget failed to address the problems faced by the farmers, weavers and the poor as the Finance Minister had paid little attention to these sectors.

“This is not a poor man’s budget and not even a growth oriented one as projected by Mr Mukherjee. The budget has failed to do justice to poor, farmers and weavers. The budget has also failed to mention Swaminathan Committee reforms in the agriculture sector,” Mr Naidu said.

“With prices of petrol and diesel touching the roof, the agriculture input costs and expenditure has risen putting farmers in great trouble,” he said. The former chief minister added that the failure of the government to cut down taxes oil firms meant that petrol prices would rise further.

The TDP chief added that the Centre should introduce a separate budget for farmers on the lines of Karnataka government to address their problems. He demanded that the government allot a lion’s share of funds for agriculture as more than 60 percent of population depends on it.

Mr Naidu also found fault with the Finance Minister for not taking concrete steps to regulate the microfinance institutions in the country and make private money lending transparent. He hailed the Union Minister for considering introducing money transfer scheme for poor to check irregularities.

Reacting on the statement of Union Minister on the recovery of black money in a five phased manner, Mr Naidu said the corruption and black money has damaged the image and growth of the country.

He demanded that the government make concrete efforts for recovery of black money and reveal names of persons who have accounts in foreign tax havens.

The former chief minister also demanded Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the alleged illegal assets of former Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy and his investments in Jagathi Publications Pvt Limited.

Apart from a CBI probe, Mr Naidu also suggested that the state government can appoint a Joint Legislature Committee to probe into Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s assets.

The TDP chief said that Mr Mukherjee could have brought in more measures to contain inflation and the black money menace in the country.

However, former member of AP Commission for Backward Classes Vakulabharanam Krishna Mohan hailed the budget. He said that the UPA government has proved that was it committed to welfare of common man and weaker sections.

In the budget, the Minister had made attempts to contain inflation with supporting mechanism for increasing income levels of poor people, he pointed out.

The allocations made in the budget will helpful to alleviate poverty of people, Mr Krishna Mohan said.