Sources says, Rahul discussed various scenarios of the Budget with the party leaders and how to position the party and attack the government accordingly
Senior Congress leaders on Thursday discussed at length how to take on the BJP government in the coming Budget session. Rahul Gandhi, who has been concertedly attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi on policy issues after becoming Congress president, met senior party leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Ahmed Patel at his Tughlaq Road residence to discuss the issue.
Sources said, Rahul discussed various scenarios of the Budget with the party leaders and how to position the party and attack the government accordingly. A major worry for the Congress could be that the Modi government is expected to present 2018-19 budget, its last budget before the expiry of 5 year term, with eyes on 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The Budget to be presented by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 1 is expected to be tilted in favour of farmers due to the distress in agriculture sector and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector to help generate jobs.
The government has taken the results of recent Gujarat elections and various panchayat body polls in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan as a warning signal of sorts. Moreover, the various Morchas of the party working with farmers, industrial workers, and small traders have also conveyed their concerns to the party leadership.
Modi government, however, will have to perform a delicate balancing act because of rising petrol prices that are threatening to increase import costs and impact adversely on the GDP.
Due to IMF compulsions it also cannot leave the fiscal prudence and will have to keep the fiscal deficit under check. This leaves the government with little manoeuvring space to let the Congress and other opposition parties crack the whip.
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 "Ghulam Nabi Azad (L) , Anand Sharma and Pramod Tewari")
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