Tirupati: Opposition parties flay Union Budget, dub it as pro-corporate

Tirupati: The opposition parties expressed their disappointment on the Union Budget presented in Parliament by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman on Tuesday and observed that it failed to fulfill the expectations of the poor and middle class and also meted out a raw deal to Andhra Pradesh.

CPM Chittoor district (East) secretary V Nagaraj said the budget was pro-corporate and totally ignored the poor. In a release here on Tuesday, the CPM leader reacting on the Union Budget said that there was no allocation for poor NREGS workers farmers, health sector and also Anganwadi centres and observed that the budget totally failed in providing succour to the Covid-affected poor at large.

It has disappointed the middle class and salaried employees as no enhancement of the limit for income tax exemption was provided, he said. He also opposed the LIC IPO proposed in the Budget stating that it would prove detrimental to the profit making PSU.

Congress leader P Naveen Kumar Reddy said the Budget failed to provide any allocation for the fulfillment of the assurances given by the

Centre at the time of bifurcation of the State including more allocation of funds for the completion of Polavaram project, State capital and also for the grant to overcome State's revenue deficit.

Slamming the leaders of BJP and ruling YSRCP for remaining mum on the injustice done to AP, Reddy said it was shameful on the part of Chief Minister, Finance Minister and MPs to remain silent spectators on the raw deal meted out to the State. CPI (ML) New Democracy Chitoor district secretary Harikrishna said the Budget was anti-middle class and anti-farmer. Terming the Budget as a gimmick, he said it has let down all sections of people.

CITU district general secretary K Murali said at the cost of the poor, the Budget pampered the corporates. "It is full of high decibel sound bites with little substance,"' he said adding that it reveals the cruel insensitivity to the unimaginable miseries due to Covid pandemic including huge loss of livelihood, deepening impoverishment and intensified hunger.