Accusing the Centre of meting out a “step-motherly treatment” to Delhi in the Union Budget 2023-24, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the Budget gives no relief from inflation.
In his reaction to the Union Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman on Wednesday morning, Kejriwal, in a series of tweets, said, “Delhiites have been meted out step-motherly treatment yet again.”
Elaborating on his contention, the chief minister said the people of the National Capital paid more than Rs 1.75 lakh crore income tax last year. “Out of that, only Rs 325 crore was given for the development of Delhi. This is a gross injustice to the people of Delhi,” argued Kejriwal.
The chief minister further said that there was no relief from inflation in this Budget. “On the contrary, this Budget will increase inflation,” he added.
“There is no concrete plan to remove unemployment. Unfortunate to reduce the education budget from 2.64 per cent to 2.5 per cent. Reducing the health budget from 2.2 per cent to 1.98 per cent is harmful,” Kejriwal said.
Meanwhile, AAP leader Sanjay Singh also slammed the Union Budget. He took a jibe at the government over the ‘double income’ claim asking ‘whose income got doubled’. “Neither did the MSP of the farmers increase, nor did the youth get employment. But this is the Amrit Kaal of Modi ji. Nirmala ji is saying ‘Per capita income has doubled’, Whose?” he tweeted.
Earlier in the day, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2023-24 in Lok Sabha. This was the third time in a row that the government presented the budget in a paperless form.
Highlights of the Budget presented by the Union finance minister included big incentives under the new income tax regime. The IT rebate limit in the new regime has been increased from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh and the new tax regime will be the default tax regime, the Union Finance Minister said. Capital expenditure outlay has been increased by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore, accounting for 3.3 per cent of the GDP.