Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has slammed the budget presented by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday.
Addressing a large rally at Pen in Raigad district, Mr Thackeray said sarcastically that it was good that the BJP has finally discovered women, youth, farmers etc. “For the past ten years the BJP government was only interested in enriching big businessmen and now suddenly it was discovered women and others. If this is the case then why Manipur was ignored when women there were being raped? Why was Bilkis Bano not given justice?”
Nothing in the budget for the masses, says Thackeray
He alleged that there was nothing in the budget for the masses. “Is this the guarantee that Modi has promised?" he asked, adding that the ruling party made tall promises during elections and once the voting was complete it forgot the people.
The meeting was first in a series aimed at mass contact with the people in different parts of the state. He will end his tour of Raigad district on Friday evening.
Thackeray slams PM Modi
Mr Thackeray said when there was a cyclone on the Konkan coast, it was he (in his capacity as the chief minister of the MVA government) who had rushed relief to the people. “Mr Modi, who is repeatedly visiting Maharashtra now, was nowhere in the picture," he added.
Youth leader and independent MLA Satyajit Tambe said, “The Budget is a generic one despite being a political year. The government has smartly hidden all the negative figures during the last decade and presented only the positive figures. It has not made any concrete announcement but revised the old schemes and played it safe considering that the Lok Sabha elections round the corner. People generally expect major announcements that immediately attract attention and become the talking point of the budget. But new schemes in terms of hospitals, schools, colleges, infrastructure is nothing new. Every budget and every party will have the same take and pretty much the same allocation. There are no popular and relevant announcements such as restructuring of the tax system or heavy provision for certain sectors. This reflects the political confidence that the government has, whether it is confidence or over confidence only time will tell.”
