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ShareNew Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today slammed the railway budget, saying it had been prepared in haste. The Congress, on the other hand, described the budget as pro-people and a reflection of the policies of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
"The budget builds on the achievements of the UPA government in the last five years," Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters soon after railway minister Mamata Banerjee presented the rail budget in the Lok Sabha. He said it was a pro-people budget. "Special focus has been on the SC/ST areas of the country through the budget," Tewari said.
The silver lining, according to Tewari was that no fares had been increased in times of economic recession. Asked whether the budget was better as compared to the
one presented by Lalu Prasad last year, Tewari said every budget had to be seen in perspective.
BJP president Rajnath Singh said the people would have to wait for the implementation of the budget to know whether it was effective or not. Party leaders said the rail budget had been prepared in haste and failed to give the needed impetus.
Senior BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said the budget was a "grave injustice" to Bihar. "Nothing has been done for Bihar, the state which I represent. It is a great injustice to
the people of the state," Hussain said.
Another BJP leader, Gopinath Munde said that injustice had been done to his state, Maharashtra, as there was nothing in the budget for the people of the region.
Union heavy industries minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said it was a "good budget". He also referred to the public-private partnership model, and said it would be very effective. Asked whether Maharashtra has got a good deal, he said, "if something more had been given, it would have been better".
