Alleging that the Union Finance Budget has meted out a step-motherly treatment to his state in comparison to Karnataka, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday termed it a ‘headline-making jumlas’ in the media, nothing more than that and disappointing for the state.

“This budget 2023-24 is anti-poor, landless farmers and anti common people as the schemes like Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, which proved to be a lifeline for poor people in the Corona period, was given a budget support of 33 percent (approximately Rs 30,000 crore),”  Gehlot said in a statement here.

He further said, “Many fake announcements related to agriculture and farmers welfare have been made in this budget, but for the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare budgetary provision, about 6 percent (about Rs 7,500 crore) less amount has been provisioned than last year. Similarly, there has been a significant reduction of 15 percent (approximately Rs 23,000 crore) in the urea subsidy item as compared to last year.”

He lamented that important areas like education, health, social justice and women and child development have been neglected by the Central government and there has been negligible increase in this budget as compared to previous years.

Slamming the economic policies of the Centre, Gehlot commented, “The whole country is suffering from inflation for the past many years, the prices of flour, pulses, oil, soap etc., which are used by the common man on a daily basis, have increased a lot, due to which the life of the common man has become difficult. In the absence of any policy statement regarding reducing inflation, the life of the common man will become even more difficult.”

Pointing out that a provision of additional assistance of Rs 5,300 crore to the state of Karnataka for the Upper Bhadra Project made keeping the elections in mind, he said it shows the step-motherly treatment of the Modi government towards Rajasthan as its Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) was not taken up for a national project. The people of Rajasthan will give a befitting reply to this step-motherly treatment when the time comes,” he warned.

Meanwhile, Randhir Vikram Singh, Chairman, FICCI Rajasthan State Council, considered the Union Budget as a progressive and growth oriented, and there is something for everyone in this budget.