Maharashtra budget full of promises but people will not get fooled: Congress

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Friday, 28 June, said the state budget presented by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in the Assembly has lots of assurances, but people will not be fooled by them.

Talking to reporters in the Vidhan Bhavan premises, Patole claimed there was no mention of allocation of funds to different government departments in the budget for 2024-25.

This was the first budget with no allocation of funds to irrigation, agriculture, social justice and housing, said the opposition MLA, whose party is a constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

"There are lots of assurances in the budget but people will not be befooled. This is a budget to mislead people and there are doubts that the assurances made will be fulfilled," Patole noted.

He claimed the Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP government was trying to show rosy dreams to people just ahead of the Assembly polls which are due in October.

The Congress legislator maintained the scheme in the budget to waive farmers' electricity bills was nothing but a farce.

The Eknath Shinde-led government has ignored the Congress' demand to waive farmers' loans completely on the lines of Telangana, where the grand old party is in power, and ignored the woes of common citizens, he emphasised.

The 'Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana', a scheme in the budget entailing a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500 to eligible women in the age group of 21 to 60 years, was a pitiable attempt of the government to woo female voters, Patole said.

The Congress MLA asked what will a sum of Rs 1,500 do at the time of rising inflation.

In Pawar's budget speech, there was no mention of filling up vacant government posts, he pointed out.

Pawar, who holds the finance portfolio, announced a slew of populist measures for women, unemployed youths, farmers and households in a budget which comes just four months ahead of the Assembly polls.

The ruling alliance is seeking to woo different sections of society in the backdrop of drubbing it received in Maharashtra in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.