Zee Media Bureau/Hemant Abhishek
New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley criticised the central government`s Interim Budget and slammed Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram for presenting a flawed budget and putting his successor `in trouble`.
Writing in his blog the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said that the GDP growth rate fell from 8.% during the NDA rule to 4.5% at the end of UPA-II tenure. Jaitely wrote, “The fiscal deficit had to be brought down to 4.8 percent. He (Finance Minister) now claims to have brought it down to 4.6 percent. He achieves this spectacular feat not by bringing in revenue buoyancy or by reviving the investment cycle but by cutting down expenditure, particularly the capital expenditure (sic).”
Noting that the outgoing UPA government would not be able to implement the budget, she said it was an election gimmick in a vote-on-account budget where the purpose was only to seek permission of Parliament for incurring expenditure for the coming four months.
Jaitely noted that the FM has cut Centre`s grants to the states from the Budget estimates of Rs 1,36,254 crores to Rs 1,19,039 crores — a reduction of 12.6 percent. And said that Chidambaram completely glossed over the slowdown in the manufacturing sector, which is a huge concern. He avered, “This directly reflects on job creation. The excise duties in the current year, which were estimated to be Rs 1,97,554 crores has now been revised to Rs1,79,538 — a reduction of 9.1 percent (sic).”
Jaitely also accused Chidambaram of stealing credit from BJP-ruled states, and wrote, “The FM has taken credit for the stellar performance of the agriculture sector but the real credit goes to the states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh which have consistently given double digit growth rates in agriculture.”
Jaitely worried about the stability of the Indian currency and said that the rupee has fallen to `unacceptable levels`. And though the vote-on-account was only for a period of four months, there were serious concerns like `growth rate, real fiscal deficit, inflation, investment and the slow down in manufacturing sector.`
Chidambaram has left a tattered legacy for his successor, said Jaitely and wrote that though the Finance Minister will be a relieved man after presenting UPA-II`s last budget, his successor will face a lot of trouble.
