After ruckus, Congress leader poses 12 questions to Jaitley as he initiates the debate on Union Budget
Braving an unprecedented uproar from the treasury benches while initiating debate on the Union Budget 2018-19 in the Rajya Sabha, Congress leader P Chidambaram juxtaposed it against the Economic Survey and targeted the Modi government over education, agrarian crisis and unemployment.
The former finance minister dubbed the economic policy as a "betrayal" of the country and charged that the government had thrown all norms of "fiscal prudence out the window".
Terming minimum support price (MSP) for foodgrains, job creation and Ayushman Bharat scheme as the 'teen jumlas' of Modi government before the 2019 polls, Chidambaram posed 12 questions to his successor Arun Jaitley.
Amidst the ruckus from the treasury benches, Chidambaram said, "I hope the Finance Minister will answer them in this House if he is allowed to speak by his fellow members. If he is not allowed...I don't want you to raise your voice and affect your health."
Then posing his questions, Chidambaram said that in 2017-18, the budget estimates of customs duties was Rs 2,45,000 crore. The revised estimates show a drastic fall to Rs 1,35,242 crore and asked, "Is there a story there that you have not yet told the country?"
In another, bringing out the difference between total expenditure of Rs. 71,000 crore in 2017-18 to a whopping Rs 1,07,371 crore, Chidambaram asked, "Is this not the evidence of a spendthrift government that has abandoned all norms of fiscal prudence?"
Defending the budget, BJP's Bhupender Yadav said there was policy paralysis during the UPA rule and accused the Congress of having misused constitutional institutions then.
He also said that the Companies Act framed by the UPA government was defective and had led to companies incurring losses.
OTHER QUERIES
- Questioned difference in capital expenditure coming down from Rs 3,09,801 crore to Rs 2,73,445 crore
- Questioned job creation claims and asked how many ILO-described jobs were created in the four years of BJP government
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