18% hike in agricultural budget is peanuts: Parkash Singh Badal

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday decried the Union Budget 2012-13 as "anti-poor and anti-common man".

"It is highly deplorable on part of the UPA which claims to safeguard the rights of the common man to further accentuate the woes of the poor and middle class by presenting an anti-poor and anti-common man budget," Badal said in a statement in Chandigarh.

He said the proposed budget would further propel inflationary trends making the life of common man far more miserable. He also called the budget "totally directionless, non-progressive and unrealistic."

Describing the proposals for 2012-13 as "farce and illusionary" he said, "The proposed budgetary provisions are nothing but an ambiguous act which would badly affect the pockets of the working classes, the employees, small and medium traders and farmers."

The chief minister said a mere hike of 18% in the proposed allocations to the agriculture sector was a peanut which cannot satiate the high expectations of the already beleaguered peasants across the country.

He said that the budgetary proposals have also disappointed the salaried class which was expecting a major relief but in reality their hopes have been dashed with negligible respite in proposed Income Tax class slab.