Common man can now go hi-tech, says BJP

MUMBAI, June 1: The Bharatiya Janata Party unit in Mumbai welcomed the Union Budget presented today, lauding it for the impetus quot;to sma...

MUMBAI, June 1: The Bharatiya Janata Party unit in Mumbai welcomed the Union Budget presented today, lauding it for the impetus quot;to small scale industries, cottage industries and self-employmentquot;. Mumbai unit vice-president Ramesh Medhekar said the budget envisaged several schemes for uplift of the poor and backward classes. quot;This budget has taken into consideration the needs of the common man. Taxes on computers and software have been lowered, enabling the common man to go hi-tech,quot; Medhekar said.

He congratulated the Finance Minister for quot;wise allocation of funds for social, cultural and educational purposesquot;.

Political advisor to the Prime Minister Pramod Mahajan called it a revolutionary budget which quot;takes care of all walks of national life from agriculture to Agniquot;.

Farmers, small industrialists and NRIs have more than one reason to celebrate, he said. Strengthening of industrial infrastructure like power, road, aviation and social infrastructure like education, health, social welfare coupled withmore resources for research and development will quot;build a strong nationquot;, he added.

The Janata Dal, for its part, censured the budget for quot;neglecting agricultural development and small scale industriesquot;. quot;The budget has failed to address itself to the basic national task of removing constraints on growth with social justice and alleviation of rural and urban poverty,quot; said Maharashtra Janata Dal vice-president A R Khan. quot;The budget proposals have paved the way for the NRIs to become major players in the national economy. The budget will introduce socio-economic instability and it seems that an Indonesia-type collapse is only months away,quot; Khan added.

Samajwadi Party general secretary A A Kazi labelled the budget anti-poor, predicting a quot;steep price risequot; as a result of its quot;inflationaryquot; nature.

quot;On the one hand there are economic sanctions imposed by other countries on us and on the other, the internal inflation due to the budget. Consequently, the total effect is going to be very austere life for thecommon man. The budget is therefore anti-poor.quot;