Making announcements before Budget not proper: Pawar

NCP president Sharad Pawar today criticised the slew of announcements made by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the eve of the New Year.
As the budget was around the corner, it was not appropriate to make such announcements, Pawar said, speaking to reporters here.
"Some of these schemes were already in existence," he added.
The PM asked the people to bear with him for fifty days after the demonetisation after which he said the situation would improve, but the things had not improved at all, Pawar said.
"We do not see any good results, on the contrary the farmers and small industries have suffered very badly and according to the experts the situation will remain the same for the next at least eight months," the NCP chief said.

This would adversely affect the GDP, he added.

Demonetisation would also affect the political parties and candidates who are contesting elections currently, he said.
Pawar also said that a nine-day budget session of the Parliament was unprecedented. "The country has never seen such a short session. When Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he used to hold such (short) sessions," he said, adding that the same pattern had now come to the Centre.
Pawar also opined that in view of the Assembly elections in five states, the budget session should be deferred.
Talking about opposition parties coming together against NDA government, Pawar mentioned that "we had a bitter experience (recently) when Congress, which had agreed to a meeting with the President, instead met the Prime Minister separately".

On the Supreme Court ruling banning seeking of votes on the basis of religion, caste, etc., Pawar said it would hit the political parties whose name itself reflected a caste or a religion.
This issue needs to be studied, Pawar said.