Bihar Leaders Comment on Union Budget
Patna: February 29, 2008
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Bihar Leaders Comment on Union Budget
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Photo by Shashi Uttam |
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Politicians in Bihar on Friday expressed their reactions on the Union 2008-09 budget presented by Central Finance Minister P. Chidambaram criticizing or commending it based on their political affiliations – no surprise there!
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a Janata Dal (U) leader and not a partner in the Congress-led UPA government, described the budget 'discriminatory towards Bihar' saying the budget hardly had anything to boast about as far as Bihar was concerned.
"There is no special package for Bihar nor any attempt has been made to extricate Bihar from its poor economic predicament," Kumar said while talking to reporters outside the state Assembly.
Reacting on the provision of writing off loans to Bihar farmers, the Chief Minister said it would have little on no impact on Bihar since most banks in the state had already lowered the debts to them. "If anything at all, they should have lowered the rate of interest by banks and other lending institutions since most farmers in the state were severely burdened by skyrocketing rate of interest," he said.
Kumar also lamented the Center's indifference towards Bihar's annual curse of flood saying not a single provision was made to minimize flood in the state or its impact that annually sucks the life out of millions of people.
"In the area of power also, the Center has chosen to ignore the woes of Bihar that continues to affect it making it nearly impossible to implement any large project," the Chief Minister said adding the budget was also indicative of an earlier-than-expected general election in India.
Deputy Chief Minister and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi also ripped the 2008-09 budget apart calling it an 'election gimmick' intended to sway the voters after 'failing to deliver' since coming into power in 2004.
In contrast, the former Chief Minister of Bihar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's wife Rabri Devi hailed the budget as historic.
"Farmers would finally stop committing suicide now that the government has written off their loans," the leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly said.
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