Budget: Govt appears willing to take political risk ahead of Assembly polls

Allocation for farm and allied activities has been cut

As is usual with the Budgets of the Narendra Modi government, the one that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled in Parliament on Monday has an eye set on the forthcoming Assembly polls.

The Budget has allocated funds for road construction in four poll-bound states and a Union Territory -- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, and Puducherry -- and also for the welfare of tea garden workers in Bengal and Assam.

The BJP had swept the Lok Sabha seats in 2019 in north Bengal, home to tea gardens, and the party continues to remain popular there as well, as in Upper Assam.