Bihar: Sushil Kumar Modi hails Budget, opposition slams it

PATNA: The 2019-20 Union Budget presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha on Friday evoked mixed reactions from political quarters in the state.
Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi said the Budget taxed the rich and made provisions for providing electricity, housing, cooking gas and roads to the poor. Modi, who also holds the finance portfolio in the state, hailed provisions like Rs 5 lakh crore for infrastructure and incentives for startups.
However, the opposition leaders were critical of the Budget.
While describing the Budget as anti-poor, former CM and RJD leader Rabri Devi said it would only benefit the rich and the industrialists. “People feel cheated once again. Only false promises were made to the people. There is nothing significant in the Budget which will benefit the poor in true sense of the term,” she added.
Senior Congress leader and MLA from Kadwa in Katihar district Shakeel Ahmed Khan said Bihar got step-motherly treatment from the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre once again. “The PM had announced special economic package for the state’s development ahead of the election but the Budget didn’t talk about it. The special status issue seems to have been thrown into the dustbin,” he added.
Former Union minister and RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha said, “The Budget has ignored the interests of the poor, farmers, unemployed youth and women. It also served the interests of the big industrialists.”
HAM (S) spokesperson Danish Rizwan also described the Budget as ‘anti-farmer’ and ‘anti-youth’. “There is so-called double engine government at the Centre and the state. But Bihar has got nothing in the Budget,” he said.