The budget presented by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has “disappointed” all sections of the society and only reflects five years of “misgovernance” as it had pushed the State into a debt trap, charged BJP president K. Laxman on Monday.

Giving his reaction to the budget, the BJP leader said the State has become “bankrupt” thanks to the “financial mismanagement, lack of fiscal discipline and corruption”. The very fact that Mr. Rao had reduced the outlay by ₹36,000 crore from ₹1.82 lakh crore to 1.46 lakh crore shows the state of economy. “Mr. Rao proudly claimed that the State is going to spend ₹11,000 crore a month, which means there will be no money for taking up any development or welfare programmes after spending most of it for paying interest for old and new loans, salaries and the likes. He should accept his failure and apologise to the people,” he said.

Mr. Laxman sought to point out that the budget had no mention about the pay revision commission to employees, enhancement of retirement age to 61, filling up vacancies in the government departments or employment generation.

“However, Mr. Rao did not fail to take pot-shots at the Centre and political rivals during his budget speech even as he chose to ignore mentioning promises made during the elections,” he maintained. If Mr. Rao was so sure of the economy sliding from the last 18 months, he demanded to know why an interim budget of ₹1.82 lakh crore was presented six months ago.

The BJP chief claimed that a few sectors had shown a downward trend but inflation is very much in control in the country and the economy fundamentals are strong. He also questioned why there is no mention about the increased debt of ₹2.5 lakh crore debt, up from ₹60,000 crore?

The budget, in any case, had “lost its value” because the government has never spent more than 70% of funds, not a single person got the unemployment dole, and to what extent of ₹2,000 crore was spent on housing is debatable, he added.