‘Misleading’ Budget presented with eye on Assembly polls: Opposition slams govt

“The government’s announcement of waiving electricity bills for farmers is a hoax. We had demanded the farm loan waiver on the lines of Telangana government but it has not been made and farmers have been ignored in the budget.

Maharashtra has a debt of Rs 7 lakh crore, the state ranks sixth in per capita income. Maharashtra ranks after Gujarat in terms of per capita income and exports,” said Patole.

“When the state is in such a miserable condition, the government is showing rosy dreams to the people. The public has been robbed for 10 years through gas, petrol and diesel tax and just before the election, the government is making false promises of tax reduction on petrol and diesel. These are just false promises made ahead of the polls and nothing will be implemented,” Patole said.

Jayant Patil said with defeat now in sight, the government has made its last attempt by making the populist promises but that would not go on for more than three months as the Model Code of Conduct would come into effect in September.

“The whole statistics presented in the budget are misleading and they have announced several freebies. But all this will not be implemented for more than three months. An attempt was made to appease a certain class by merely making promises. The budget was presented without any evaluation. A committee that rationalises this budget, can scrap all the schemes…They can give the funds for the next two months but can scrap all the schemes if this same government returns to power,” Patil said.

Hitting out at the government over the budget, Shiv Sena UBT president Uddhav Thackeray said people of Maharashtra will not believe in the farce of the government and claimed many schemes that were announced in the past budget of this government have not been implemented yet and the schemes announced in the present budget will also not be realised.

“My demand to waive electricity bills has been accepted but my demand to make farmers debt free was not accepted. If the government feels that such schemes will work and people can be fooled, then they are wrong. People of Maharashtra are waiting for the Assembly polls to teach a lesson to this government,” said Uddhav.

Reacting to the budget, SP MLA Rais Shaikh said that its was a huge disappointment for minorities, adding that the BJP is penalising them for the Lok Sabha electoral outcome.

“The state budget presented by the Mahayuti government offers nothing substantial for minorities or the textile sector, marking a significant disappointment. There are absolutely no new schemes or budgetary allocation for the minority community. There has never been such a big disappointment for the minorities. It appears the BJP is penalising minorities for Lok Sabha electoral outcomes. All the announcements in the budget are old and have been repackaged. Major issues of the minorities have been completely ignored in the budget,” Shaikh said.