New Delhi : Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge today termed the Union budget as “disappointing” only to save the throne. He said, the budget distribution is not need-based, but only to save the chair. He said the budget had pleased just two people, while ignoring the interests of 140 crore Indians.

Talking to media persons after the presentation of the Union budget by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament, Kharge said, the budget has ignored all sections including the middle class, farmers, youth, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and others.

He also alleged that the budget has been made to appease only two of the friends of the Prime Minister and this will become clear very soon.

The Congress president said the party had expected the budget to address the long pending issues of the farmers including the legal guarantee for the MSP, subsidy on fertilisers and other things. But he regretted none of these things were mentioned in the budget. 

Kharge, who has served as the Union Railway Minister, observed that there was nothing in the budget to address the issue of the safety of passengers. Nor was there any mention of fulfilling the vacancies pending in the railways.

Referring to frequently occurring natural disasters like devastating floods, he said, there was no provision to deal with the crisis in the budget. He pointed out how devastating floods had taken place in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra. He asked what special steps have been taken in this regard?

The Congress president alleged that the BJP government had tried to settle scores with the SCs, STs and backward classes as most of them had voted for the INDIA bloc this time.

He also referred to the caste census, saying the government had not allocated any funds for this purpose in the budget.

He said the budget had failed to address the issue of rising prices under which the entire country was reeling and people were suffering.

Referring to the UPA government’s schemes like MGNREGA, Food Security Act, Health Mission, Right to Education, Mid-Day Meal Scheme, he asked the BJP government whether it had brought any such welfare scheme in the last ten years.

Kharge also announced that very soon he will be revealing ten big lies of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is habitual of lying.