Masterclass in deflecting blame: KC Venugopal slams FM's Budget reply

Congress MP KC Venugopal criticised Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's reply to the budget discussion in the Lok Sabha, accusing her of deflecting from critical issues.

In his X post, he said Sitharaman's reply was more about political point-scoring than addressing the concerns raised by the opposition.

"The Finance Minister's reply to the budget discussion in the Lok Sabha was a masterclass on how to shift blame, deflect, and distract from the reality. Her arrogant dismissal of the pressing issues raised by the opposition shows that her real intentions were never to respond to the gaps highlighted in the budget, but to score political points," Venugopal posted on X.

He said that Sitharaman's decision to cherry-pick UPA-era statistics has been particularly contentious, as it sidesteps the current economic challenges facing the country.

He further added in the post, "In her reply, she found it more suitable to cherry-pick UPA-era statistics instead of explaining why key economic indices - be it the GDP growth rate or the rupee value against the dollar - are in terminal decline. On key social welfare schemes, instead of explaining the stagnation or reduction in budget allocations, she shifted the blame to state governments."

Venugopal expressed disappointment, stating that instead of addressing the economic crisis, the government has been engaged in political infighting since 2014, leaving the people of India without answers.

In Parliament on Tuesday, Sitharaman countered opposition allegations and said capital budget outlays have not come down.

She said that the government is using almost the entire borrowed resources for financing effective capital expenditure.

The minister, who was replying to a marathon debate in Lok Sabha on 2025-26 budget, said that effective capital expenditure is projected at 15.48 lakh crore as against 13.18 lakh crore in the revised esitmates of 2024-25.

She said the effective capital expenditure for 2025-26 is 4.3 per cent of GDP as compared to fiscal deficit target of 4.4 per cent.

Capital expenditure, or capex, is used to set up long-term physical or fixed assets.

Effective capital expenditure includes core capital outlays and the grants in aid to states for creation of capital assets. Though the grants in aid for creation of capital assets is accounted in Budget as revenue expenditure, they go for creating capital assets in the states, she said.