Raj govt puts up hoardings in Jaipur ahead of State budget

Jaipur: Hoardings put up in the city by the Rajasthan government ahead of the state budget on Friday 10 are suggesting that it will be a populist one in the election year.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who also holds the finance portfolio, said the budget will be fabulous, focused on youths and fulfil the aspirations of the people of the state. The hoardings with a photo of the chief minister say in Hindi that the Rajasthan budget is coming on February 10, with a tagline -- 'Bachat, Rahat, Badhat' (saving, relief and progress).

The hoardings have been put up at key places in the city, including Sahkar circle, Ambedkar circle and Gandhi circle. "It is our endeavour to make Rajasthan the number 1 state in the country. The government has introduced several such schemes which are not there in other states. The state budget to be presented on February 10 will take it forward. "The budget will be focused on youths, which will also fulfil the aspirations of all sections. It will be an inclusive budget," the chief minister has said recently. In the budget last year, Gehlot announced the revival of the old pension scheme for state employees, which led to a nationwide debate. Also, the amount under the Chiranjeevi health insurance scheme was doubled from Rs 5 lakh to 10 lakh. A separate budget for agriculture was also presented by Gehlot. Meanwhile, as soon as the hoardings appeared in the city, BJP state president Satish Poonia targeted the government. Replying to the hoarding's photo on Twitter, Poonia posted an edited photo, saying, "Sach to ye hai" (The truth is this). In the photo tweeted by Poonia on Monday, the original tagline of hoarding 'Bachat, Rahat, Badhat' was replaced with 'Apradh, Bhrashtachar, Paperleak'. In response to Poonia's tweet, the chief minister's officer on special duty Lokesh Sharma said, "It is being told clearly what the Chief Minister's intention is for the people of the state in the upcoming budget. But 'the truth is'...that the BJP (state) president is unable to even wait for the budget to come and is working like a prejudiced and editing the words of the hoardings".

Rajasthan is going for the assembly elections later this year and this will be the last budget of the present Congress government. In the budget, the government is likely to roll out many new schemes and programmes for youth and social welfare. "Since the budget will be focused on youths, the announcements of government jobs are likely," a Congress leader said. Also, along with a special emphasis on youths, the budget is expected to be focused on social welfare schemes to counter inflation, one of the key issues on which the party would contest the assembly elections in 2023.