The only thing this government knows about jobs is ‘Pakodanomics’: P. Chidambaram

AICC Press Conference

After The Piyush Goyal Present the Budget for session 2019-20 at parliament House, The Congress leader P. Chidambaram, Randeep Surjewala and Priyanka Chaturvedi Address The media at AICC HQ, and said that - This was not Vote on Account, this was an account for votes, It was not an Interim Budget. It was a full-fledged Budget accompanied by an election campaign speech. By doing so, the government has trampled on time-honoured conventions. The govt has no hope of returning to power.The big takeaway is that the present govt has further weakened fiscal stability. For the 2nd year in succession the govt has missed the Fiscal Deficit target.


The revised estimate shows a slippage from 3.3% to 3.4%.The govt’s desperation is proved by its announcement of the Farmers’ Income Support Scheme to provide a measly sum ₹6,000/year to every small/medium farmer.By recklessly breaching fiscal discipline, the govt will fund the Scheme this year entirely out of borrowed money of ₹20,000Cr. Next year too, the Scheme will be funded entirely out of borrowed money of ₹75,000Cr. What about the urban poor?


I have no doubt in my mind that the Congress’ announcement of a Minimum Income Guarantee will bring true relief to all the poor households/families of the country, both farmer and non-farmer and both rural and urban.Every report from the field has exposed the false claims made regarding ODF-free villages, domestic electricity connections, use of LPG cylinders and MUDRA loans. None of the numbers put out by the govt is true.The MUDRA loans have only added to the accumulation of NPAs.The direct  tax concessions were beyond the authority of the government that will lay down office in 100 days.I have to point out that while I am a strong supporter of the use of Hindi and English as official languages, no one intended that Hindi & English should be used simultaneously.


Those who knew only Hindi did not understand one-half of the Budget Speech and those knew only English did not understand other half. Perhaps that was the real intention of the govt.The mist that wraps this Budget will lift by tomorrow and the people will see the desperation and recklessness of the government.The current govt has breached convention and presented a full-fledged budget, which is wrong. They have included the finance bill by amending the Income Tax Act, which is unprecedented