Vote seeking exercise, cries Opposition

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, March 10: Opposition parties in Assam have described the State budget as an election-oriented exercise, lacking any vision or direction.

Main Opposition AIUDF said the budget has been prepared with an eye to the Assembly elections next year, and termed it ‘disappointing’.

 “The budget is not pro-people. It is clearly election-oriented. There is nothing new on offer. There are no concrete measures for strengthening the state’s economy in the long run. It also shows that without Central assistance, there cannot be any development in the State,” the AIUDF legislators said at a joint press conference after the budget was tabled in the Assembly.

They further said thrust has been laid on individual benefit rather than on resource mobilization. “It also does not have any vision to address the State’s perennial flood and erosion problem,” they said.

Asom Ga Parishad members Phani Bhushan Choudhury and Keshav Mahanta also termed the budget ‘election-oriented’, and said there is no roadmap for infrastructure creation.

 “The CM had his eye on the voter while preparing the budget. There are no solutions proposed for the burning problems of the state. There is no clarity on how to improve the living standard of the people. It is a disposable and one-time budget, targeting some sections of the people,” they said.

AGP’s Prafulla Kumar Mahanta slammed the budget as colourful outside but hollow within. “The short-term schemes will ensure that Assam will fall behind by another year,” he said.

Pramila Rani Brahma of the BPF called the budget a ‘routine’ one which diverted from the actual developmental goals.  “The budget has nothing new to offer. Its lacks vision and direction. I am also skeptical if the schemes mentioned can actually be implemented on the ground. We have bitter experiences from the past,” she said.

BJP’s Jadav Deka and Prashanta Phukan said welfare schemes have been ‘Congressised’ in the budget, by handing out sops to the people. “There is no proposal for income generation. It only aims at appeasing voters, without strengthening the economy. It is the politics of yarn and blanket,” Phukan added.

Meanwhile the State committee of the BJP took a dig at Tarun Gogoi, calling him a ‘copycat’ for “he has copied a number of schemes of the General Budget presented recently in Parliament by the rendra Modi government. But Gogoi has done it without knowing about the very essence of the schemes and their feasibility.”