Interim budget has no value, sign of desperation of Modi govt: Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday slammed the Centre for declaring a number of populist proposals in its interim budget before the general election, saying the announcements had no value and was a sign of desperation.

"There is nothing concrete in the budget.... Everything is just for show to win votes. It's a sign of desperation to retain power," Banerjee said.

"No government in its interim budget can take up full-fledged plans ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. So the announcements made in the interim budget have absolutely no value," the Trinamool Congress chief said.

The Narendra Modi government on Friday made a big populist push in its final budget before the polls, exempting people with an earning of up to Rs 5 lakh from paying income tax, announcing an annual cash dole of Rs 6,000 to small farmers and providing a monthly pension of Rs 3,000 to workers in the unorganised sector.

"Who will implement this (interim budget)? Will the new government that will come into being implement this budget? Before election, a vote-on-account is placed," Banerjee, who was a former railway minister, said.

"The proposals in the budget ahead of (the) elections are nothing and targetted at vote banks. With this, (the) government's term (is) set to expire soon... such a gesture is a total fraud," the chief minister said.

Claiming that the country was passing through an economic emergency after demonetisation and the hurried GST roll-out, she asked: "Where will the money come from to implement the proposals? Why did they (NDA government) not announce a single agenda, including that to help farmers, in the last four years?"
Banerjee said a number of budget proposals announced were "photocopies of proposals" of her government. "The BJP government does not have any moral right to place such (budget) announcement."
"The Modi government is actually cheating the farmers without giving them due benefits," she said. "Besides, the banking system has been destroyed."