Union Budget 2019-20 is an eyewash: Asaduddin Owaisi

AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday termed the Union Budget 2019-20 as "an eyewash."

"The Union Budget is not going to do any good for the people. It is only going to increase the burden on poor people. The increase in fuel prices is going to hit the poor people badly. Not only this, the price hike in fuel is going to increase the rate of export duties," he said.

Owaisi said that the increase of rate in public listing to 35 per cent and the increase in the surcharge rate to 3 per cent on Rs 2 crore and 7 per cent on Rs 5 crore income is going to benefit only the BJP government and not the common people.

"On the one hand, they talk about educating common people, on the other, the BJP government has increased 10 per cent import duties on print materials, which is going to make books costly. The lower-middle class people are certainly going to find it difficult to cope up with."

Owaisi also pointed out that the NDA government had promised a loan of Rs 50 lakh without any collateral. There was no mention of this in the budget too. He also said the BJP government promised students from different countries would come to India to pursue studies, but the fact is that all of them are scared, as the mob lynching incidents have become a phenomenon in the country.

Commenting on the BJP's membership drive in Telangana by Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday, Owaisi said: "Bharatiya Janata Party's membership drive in the state is going to be a futile effort."

He said that the TRS, which lost four seats in the parliament, three were lost due to overconfidence and one due to the wrong choice they made, which the TRS would rectify.