Budget 2024 Political Reactions LIVE: Interim Budget Draws Roadmap To Viksit Bharat, Says Amit Shah

On Union Interim Budget 2024, Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) Senior Vice President MG Balakrishna says, "Overall it is a good budget... They have not stressed anything benefitting to the elections... They have given free solar for one crore houses. They would buy back excess solar electricity... They are insisting on compressed biogas and natural gas which would give us green energy and the imports would cut down... They're connecting the port, road and rail... This would help in transportation and tourism... They have taken the initiative of developing tourism too... They have kept Rs 1 lakh crore for the corpus fund with 50 years interest-free (loan), for research and innovation, startup and developing particularly on defence equipment indigenously..."

On interim Budget, Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi says, "This is the interim budget... In the last 10 years, we have been moving forward step by step, whether it is youth, women, or farmers. For everyone, work has been done & it is being reflected in this budget..."

"PM Modi changed the entire strategy (for Railways) over the last 10 years, and now focus is being made on investment to modernise the Railways. For this year, the budget that has been allocated for the Railways is Rs 2.52 lakh crore," says Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Interim Budget 2024.

On Interim Budget 2024-25, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav says, "...Focused on the poor, youth, women, and farmers, this budget has highlighted PM Modi's pledge for the welfare of these categories. Nearly 25 lakh people have come out of poverty. India is fast moving forward to become the fourth largest economy in the world, and a base has been formed for the government's target of making India the third largest economy in the world... Anganwadi and ASHA workers have been covered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme... A new housing scheme has been brought for the middle class... The announcement of free cervical cancer vaccines for girls between 9-14 years of age is commendable... A rooftop solar power plan has been formulated which will benefit 1 crore households and will exempt them from electricity bills up to 300 units..."

On interim Budget, Congress leader Sachin Pilot in Jaipur says, "The Finance Minister's speech sounded like an election speech. The President's address was also used as political speech."

‘We are seeing our funds and taxes being given to north indian states. There is injustice to us. If we don’t condemn it now, we may be forced to seek a separate country, that situation may come. Hindi states are trying to run over us,’ said Congress MP DK Suresh. 

On Union Interim Budget 2024-25, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, "Is this a budget to provide employment to the unemployed... This budget is nothing but to woo people in this year's Lok Sabha elections."

Union Minister Amit Shah says, "The Union Budget draws the roadmap to achieve PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji's vision of a Developed Bharat by 2047."

Budget 2024 Political Reactions LIVE: Lauding the interim budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Prime Minister Modi said that the budget focuses on growth and will empower all sections of the society. 

“This interim budget is inclusive and innovative. It has confidence of continuity. It will empower all 4 pillars of Viksit Bharat- Yuva, Garib, Mahila and Kisan. This Budget gives the guarantee of making India a developed nation by 2047,” said PM Modi. 

Budget 2024 LIVE Political Reactions: Budget will empower all sections, said PM Modi after budget

"Sirf bhrashtachaariyo ka saath, aur gareebo ka sarvanash! @BJP4India should adopt this tagline as they once again fail the rural poor of India. After slashing MGNREGS' funds by 33% last year, the BJP-led Govt failed to even make a mention of the scheme. PM @narendramodi, on the eve of MGNREGA diwas, you have shown that the country is truly regressing towards 'aviksit Bharat'!" Tweeted AITC. 

"Where was the budget? Nothing new was announced," says MP Danish Ali on Union Budget 2024.

On Interim Union Budget 2024-25, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia says, "This is a historic budget...India has now moved forward. 'Yahi samay hai, sahi samay hai'..."

On Interim Union Budget 2024, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju says, "... I thank Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and PM Modi for this budget. No sector has been left out...Today we have become a confident country in the world in terms of economy.”

On Interim Budget 2024-25, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan says, "... This budget will prove to be a stepping stone towards a 'Viksit Bharat'. The biggest announcement of this budget is the 'Jai Anusandhan' scheme for which Rs 1 lakh crore has been announced as a corpus fund in today's budget. Whichever private entity would opt for a loan, they will get an interest-free loan for 50 years. This will directly benefit India's new generation... National Education Policy has been implemented. Innovation has taken the form of a revolution... PM Shri has been discussed. New IITs and IIMs have been discussed. Skilling and up-skilling of 1.4 crore youth of the country will be done as part of Skill India... Three new railway corridors have been talked about. This simply means more employment of skilled manpower and the lifestyle of people will improve. To sum up, this budget is well-balanced between welfare and wealth creation."

On Interim Budget 2024-25, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram says, "Mere administrative exercise to ensure that the government of India has the requisite funds to carry on its normal business until the new parliament is constituted and a new government is formed. And that's what they have done, except for making their obligatory self-congratulatory, self-praise phrases, nothing else is there and nothing should have been there, and rightly so. Nothing is there."

On Interim Budget 2024-25, Union Minister VK Singh says, "...Everything will be for 'Vikshit Bharat'...everything has been discussed in the budget to strengthen the economy..."

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on interim Budget 2024 "This is an encouraging budget....We are fully confident that we will achieve the target of becoming a developed nation by 2047."

BJP MP Poonam Mahajan says, "A woman empowering the nation under the leadership of PM Modi who has always believed in that the country has to go forward with women leading the country. We are empowering - Garib, Mahila, Kisan, Yuva- for Viksit Bharat...." 
 

On interim Budget 2024, Congress MP Manish Tewari says, "It is a 'vote-on-account' which has only one purpose to keep the government solvent for the first quarter of the current fiscal year. What's worrying is that there is a budget deficit of Rs 18 lakh crores. This means that the government is borrowing for its expenditure. This number is only going to increase next year."

"For our tech-savvy youth, this will be a golden era. A corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore will be established with 50-year interest-free loan provided. It will be for long-term financing or re-financing with low or nil interest rates."

“In the full budget in July, our Government will present a detailed roadmap for our pursuit of Viksit Bharat,” said FM Sitharaman. 

"To address fervour for domestic tourism, projects for port connectivity, tourism infra & amenities will be taken on our islands including Lakshadweep," says FM Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday presented the Interim Budget 2024 and expressed hope that the good policies and the work done by the Central government will help the BJP return to power for the third consecutive time in a row. Addressing the Lok Sabha, the Union Finance Minister in her budget speech said, "Our young country has high aspirations, pride in its present and hope and confidence for a bright future. We expect that our government based on its stupendous work will be blessed again by the people with a resounding mandate."

"Healthcare cover under Ayushman Bharat Scheme will be extended to all Asha workers, all Anganwadi workers and helpers. Agriculture and Food Processing: The efforts of value addition in agriculture sector and boosting farmers' incomes will be stepped up. Pradhanmantri Kisan Sampada Yojana has benefitted 38 lakh farmers and generated 10 lakh employment," said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. 
 

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "Despite the challenges due to COVID, implementation of PM Awas Yojana Rural continued and we are close to achieving the target of 3 crore houses. 2 crore more houses will be taken up in the next 5 years to meet the requirement arising from increase in the number of families."

“Making Triple Talaq illegal, reserving one-third legislative seats for women highlight government's women empowerment programme,” said FM Nirmala Sitharaman. 

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "The Skill India Mission has trained 1.4 crore youth, upskilled and re-skilled 54 lakh youth, and established 3000 new ITIs. A large number of institutional higher learning, namely 7 IITs, 16 IIITs, 7 IIMs, 15 AIIMS and 390 Universities have been set up."

"We need to focus on - Garib, Mahilayen, Yuva and Annadata; Their needs and aspirations are our highest priorities," said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her interim Budget speech.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman began her Interim Budget Speech in the Parliament and said this year's budget will reach ‘all sections of the society.’ 

Ahead of the presentation of the Union Interim Budget, Congress MP K Suresh said, "We are expecting this to be an election-oriented budget. BJP wants to win again and come back to power. That is why, there will be some gimmick in the budget. There will be eyewash schemes for common people...On one side they talk about common people and on the other side, they are increasing commercial gas cylinder's price and implementing anti-people policies."

"Budget will be progressive and for the development of the country," says Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh on interim Budget. 
 

Ahead of the presentation of the Union Interim Budget, Congress MP Manickam Tagore said, "...Hope that Nirmala Sitharaman delivers on the promises which they admitted. Instead of diverting from the real issues, let them address unemployment, the farmers' pain, MSME sector's problems and the price rise. We hope that the Interim Budget addresses these important issues, instead of only helping the friends like Adani and other business houses on whose pillars the Modi government is running."

VIDEO | Budget Expectations: “We have less hope that they would plan something for Rajasthan because they don’t wish to take votes in the name of development. They don’t wish to talk about the issues they promised to address when they came to power in 2014,” said Rajasthan Congress president Govind Dotasra. 

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“They (central government) promised to provide 2 crore employment opportunities in a year, but the youth didn’t receive any. They said that farmer’s income will get doubled, but that too didn’t happen,” said Congress spokesperson Dr Manish Doshi. 

"We don't expect anything great. The Modi government is claiming that India is one of the five largest economies in the world. Already this government has declared its intention, the way it is working, in order to promote the interests of big corporate houses, big business houses," said CPI general secretary D Raja. 

Taking to Twitter, ahead of the tabling of 2024 Interim Budget, BJP wrote, “𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬! Delivered as promised in the Union Budget last year.” 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present on Thursday PM Modi government's last budget before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, which is likely to contain mix of measures for the economy and electorally significant segments like farmers and women.