Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): As the Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Jagdish Devda announced the state’s budget at Madhya Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday, former CM and veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath expressed dissatisfaction saying it ignored ‘interest for the public.’
Sharing his opinion on his official X handle, Nath said, “Madhya Pradesh sarkar ka aaj ka budget janata se vishwasghaat wala budget hai. Vitt Mantri Shri Jagdish Devda ne aaj jo budget pesh kiya hai, usmein sirf baaton ke batashe banaye gaye hain aur janahit ka mudda poori tarah safachat hai……(Today’s budget of the Madhya Pradesh government is a betrayal of the people. Finance Minister Jagdish Devda has presented a budget filled with empty promises, while issues related to public welfare have been completely ignored.)”
He further claimed, “Before the Assembly elections held in November 2023, the Bharatiya Janata Party made several key promises to the people and voters of Madhya Pradesh. Even after 2.5 years, those promises were missing from the Finance Minister’s Budget speech. The election commitments made to farmers, women, youth, and other sections of society were not included in the Budget.”
According to the former CM, BJP made 4 major promises to the people of MP before the Assembly elections. Those were:
To provide a Minimum Support Price (MSP) of ₹3,100 per quintal for paddy to farmers.
To provide an MSP of ₹2,700 per quintal for wheat to farmers.
To give ₹3,000 per month to women under the Ladli Behna Yojana.
He also claimed that the saffron party did not include any of these 4 promises in the Budget.
He added, the Finance Minister did not explain why the promises made in the previous Budget were not fulfilled. He also did not clarify the government’s strategy to deal with the ₹50k crore reduction in the state’s share of central taxes in the next 5 years.
“Under centrally sponsored schemes, Madhya Pradesh has not received several thousand crore rupees from the Centre in the current financial year. These issues suggest that the state government is not prioritising public interest and is acting under the Centre’s influence,” Nath concluded.
