Budget on Feb 1 aimed at wooing voters ahead of polls: Yechury

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury today said the move to present Union Budget on February 1 is a "bad idea" as it would take into account GDP of only two quarters instead of three and alleged the decision was aimed at wooing voters ahead of Assembly polls.
In a Facebook post, he also demanded President Pranab Mukherjee and the Election Commission to take note of advancement of Budget presentation and reverse the decision.
"Now, with the advance estimates being released in January, actual data for only first two quarters (so only till September 2016) will be considered.
"This is bound to present a wrong and misleading picture of India's GDP growth rate which is bound to be revised downwards heavily later on," he said in a Facebook post.

The move will not only hurt the government's credibility, but will also make the people, who are experiencing economic hardships, "lose faith in such numbers being shown that appear hyped and evidently rosier than the truth", Yechury claimed.
"As we see it, this is a short-term political move done with an eye on UP and Punjab elections so that the BJP government can announce enough sops while bypassing the model code of conduct," he said.
Seeking to pick holes in the government's demonetisation move, the Marxist leader said, "An early budget will not cover the expected downward slide in economic indicators because of the Narendra Modi government."

Stating that budget-making is a "serious exercise", Yechury said an exercise based on incomplete data will mean "looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnose it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies".