Finance minister holds pre-budget consultation with BJP leaders

The BJP on Thursday expressed confidence that a "pro-people" Union budget will be presented on February 1, as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held pre-budget consultation with party functionaries.

She held four rounds of meetings with BJP leaders at the party headquarters here, taking feedback for the budget.

BJP working president J P Nadda, general secretaries B L Santhosh, Bhupender Yadav and Arun Singh were among those who attended the meeting.

"The finance minister met various sections of the party for consultation. We are confident that a pro-people budget will be presented," Arun Singh said.

The four party meetings attended by Sitharaman, included one each with BJP office-bearers, spokespersons, functionaries of various 'morchas' like those working with farmers, youth and women among others.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been running a government dedicated to people's welfare. This is the agenda of the government and that of the party as well," Singh added.

The BJP has been holding a series of meetings with various stake holders, including business leaders, farmer bodies and trade unions, as part of its per-budget dialogue, party spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal said.

The idea behind these meetings is to seek suggestions for the budget from business leaders, farmer organisations, trade unions and professional bodies such as ICAI and others, he said.

Agarwal, who is a spokesperson for economic issues and coordinating these meeting, said that 11 meetings have been planned, out of which seven have already been held at the party office.

"One meeting for each specific sector is being held, and the report of every meeting is being submitted to the party's working president J P Nadda," he said.

Agarwal said this exercise is being organised under the leadership of Nadda and the party's organisational general secretary B L Santhosh.

The series of meetings began on December 19 and will conclude on January 14. The party will have a comprehensive view from stake holders of all sectors, he said.

The first budget in the second term of the Narendra Modi government will be presented on February 1.

The Budget session would be held in two phases from January 31 to April 3. The first phase of the session will be from January 31 to February 11 and the second will be from March 2 to April 3.