Budget 'very depressing', provides no relief to middle class: Shiv Sena

The Shiv Sena on Tuesday dubbed the Union Budget as very depressing, saying it has neither given any relief to the middle class nor it has any reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of making India a "USD 5 trillion" economy.

After the budget, Shiv Sena MP Vinayak Raut said the Union Budget 2022-23 only has jugglery of words like the PM-Gati Shakti, Atmanirbhar Bharat, while old schemes are presented as new.

The budget is very depressing. During the coronavirus pandemic, people of the country paid Rs 1.40 lakh crore as GST but, unfortunately, the schemes that were to be implemented with regard to taxes do not find a place in the budget, Raut told reporters.

He claimed the budget has misled people.

The budget has given no relief to the middle class with regard to the Income Tax. There is no reference to the prime minister's vision of making India a USD 5 trillion economy, Raut said.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday presented the budget in Parliament.

Later, NCP MP Supriya Sule tweeted: A 'futuristic ICT budget', in which we hope the deliverables are a reality, not just VR?! Good luck.

Maharashtra NCP president Jayant Patil in a tweet said it was an "election manifesto" and not the country's budget.

The Shiv Sena shares power with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra.

After the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Shiv Sena snapped ties with long-term ally BJP. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party has since then severely criticised policies of the BJP-led Centre.