It is farewell budget for Congress: BJP

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Monday attacked Finance Minister P Chidambaram's Interim Budget saying it was a farewell budget for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

"The Interim Budget is going to be a farewell budget for the UPA which doomed our economy. Instead of this costly budget, Chidambaram should have read the Congress's election manifesto in the parliament. The government has done nothing for unemployment, inflation, economy and corruption in last 10 years. And now when it is time to go, it is trying to woo the voters with an affordable budget," he said.

BJP leader and former finance minister Jaswant Singh said the Government should not have announced policies that it cannot implement.

"An Interim Budget should not be accompanied by pronouncements which have no guarantee of being adopted successfully by a government. I wish Finance Minister hadn't made such announcements that he doesn't guarantee to implement," he said.

Commenting on sops to ex-servicemen in the Interim Budget, Singh said a group of ministers should have been formed by the government to look into the issues faced by the defense veterans.

"They should have formed a group of ministers to look into the issues being faced by the ex-servicemen. I welcome the endorsement of One Rank One Pension by the government," he said.

Earlier on Monday, Chidambaram presented the interim budget in the Lok Sabha. It is a vote-on-account authorizing the government to carry out expenditure on different heads till a regular budget is presented.

Ahead of the beginning of the parliament session early this month, Chidambaram had said that the government would tinker only in areas that are essential to revive the economic growth which might likely include some changes in excise and service taxes in the interim budget.