After Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made myriad announcements during her Budget speech in Parliament on Saturday, reactions to the Union Budget 2025 started pouring in from ruling political leaders, Opposition leaders, industry experts, and other stakeholders as soon as she concluded her speech.
Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor, on one hand, welcomed the government's decision on tax cuts. On the other hand he criticised the Modi government for using Budgets to give freebies to the poll-bound states.
Speaking to the news agency ANI, Tharoor stated, "I think frankly the applause you heard from the BJP benches was for the middle-class tax cut. We look at the details and that may be a good thing. So if you have a salary you may be paying less tax. But the important question is what happens if we don't have a salary? Where is the income going to come from? For you to benefit from income tax relief, you actually need jobs. Unemployment was not mentioned by the Finance Minister."
"(It is) Ironic that the party that wants one nation, one election is actually using each election in each state each year to give them more freebies. They may as well have multiple elections so they can get more applause from their allies," he added.
