Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman (PTI photo)
NEW DELHI:
Opposition parties
called the Union Budget a disappointment as especially for states ruled by parties which were not part of the ruling NDA.
Asserting that the government has no new ideas, Congress said finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is walking on the “worn-out path” and is not willing to break free as its governments had done in 1991 and 2004. The opposition party said the takeaway from Budget 2025-26 is that BJP is wooing the tax paying middle-class and the Bihar electorate.
Addressing a press conference here on the Budget, senior Congress leader and former
finance minister
P Chidambaram said these announcements will be welcomed by the 3.2 crore tax-paying middle-class and the 7.65 crore voters of Bihar.
But for the rest of India, the finance minister had no more than soothing words, punctuated by the applause of BJP members led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said.
“There is nothing to cheer about the fact that the government has improved the fiscal deficit from the budget estimate of 4.9 per cent to the revised estimate of 4.8 per cent. It was achieved at a huge cost to the economy,” he said.
“Those who did not believe us when we said that the economy is slowing down will, I hope, believe us now. Those who did not believe us that that the capacity of the government to plan and implement schemes has diminished will, I hope, believe us now,” Chidambaram said.
TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee
said the Budget had “nothing for common people and that the Budget was presented with the upcoming Bihar elections in mind.” He added, “as far as West Bengal is concerned, it has not got anything in the last 10 years, nor was there anything today. This is unfortunate.”
“I will have to read the budget carefully, there has been a lot of confusion with the way the budget was presented. She (Nirmala Sitharaman) said there are going to be different rebates for different salary slabs. There is nothing for the middle class,” Banerjee told reporters on Saturday in the Parliament premises.
DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran
called the Budget a “big letdown” especially for the middle class. “The finance minister claims she is giving tax exemption up to Rs 12 lakh, but the very next line was, there is 10 % tax slab for Rs 8 to Rs 10 lakh income… Since Bihar elections are coming there are a lot of announcements for the state, again fooling the people of Bihar,” he added.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav
charged the government with indulging in “rhetoric” and “repackaging” announcements made in the past, while slamming chief minister Nitish Kumar, for failing to secure a fair deal for Bihar. “Just look at TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, who has secured benefits to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore for Andhra Pradesh. The Budget presented today is silent on any such help for Bihar,” he said.
The ruling JMM claimed that the
Union Budget 2025-26
has nothing for Jharkhand as the state and its people were “neglected completely” by the Centre. when the state’s minerals contribute significantly to the country’s economy, but a “step-motherly treatment has been meted out” to the state.
“Nothing has been proposed for Jharkhand in the budget. The neighbouring Bihar has been given many projects but Jharkhand and its people have been neglected completely,” JMM spokesperson Manoj Pandey said in Ranchi.
“We had expected that the Centre would announce payment of its due of Rs 1.36 lakh crore to the state. But, there is no mention of it in the budget. We want to ask why such an ignorant approach was taken towards Jharkhand,” he said.
