‘Kursi bachao… to appease allies, cronies,’ says Rahul Gandhi in first reaction after FM presents Budget 2024

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government on Tuesday for what he called a ‘kursi bachao’ Budget favouring BJP allies and cronies.

“Kursi Bachao Budget. Appease Allies: Hollow promises to them at the cost of other states. Appease Cronies: Benefits to AA with no relief for the common Indian. Copy and Paste: Congress manifesto and previous budgets,” the Raebareli lawmaker wrote on X.

“Modi government copied-pasted Congress' scheme for youth and changed the name. The whole country is struggling with inflation, but there is no mention of taking steps against inflation in the budget. In this budget, some people have been made happy just to save their positions,” added Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.

Sitharaman presented her record seventh consecutive Union Budget 2024-25 today in the Parliament. The FM introduced increased standard deduction and revised tax rates for salaried individuals under the new tax regime. Besides this, a cut in customs duty on gold, silver, mobile phones and other goods were also announced.

Gandhi was referring to significant allocations to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh- the two states governmed by BJP allies, the JD-U and the TDP.

Tuesday's Budget, comes in the backdrop of changed political landscape in the country. The BJP fell short of the majority mark in the Lok Sabha elections 2024 forcing it to rely on itsNational Democratic Alliance(NDA) allies including N Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) to form the government at the Centre.

The Congress also slammed the Budget for being being “more focused on posturing than action”. Earlier Jairam Ramesh and P Chidambaram outlined several similarities between the announcements made on Tuesday and the Congress Lok Sabha poll manifesto.

"I am glad to know that the Finance Minister has read the Congress Lok Sabha Manifesto after the election results. I am happy she has virtually adopted the Employment-linked incentive outlined on page 30 of the Congress Manifesto. I am also happy that she has introduced the Apprenticeship scheme along with an allowance to every apprentice spelt out on page 11 of the Congress Manifesto. I wish the FM had copied some other ideas in the Congress Manifesto," jibed Chidambaram.

"It is highly disappointing that the Finance Minister's announcement on Data and Statistics makes no mention of releasing funds for the decadal Population Census that was supposed to have taken place in 2021, but has still not been conducted," added Ramesh.

In her Budget speech, Nirmala Sitharaman announced a new centrally-sponsored skilling scheme that will train 20 lakh youth for a 5 year period. The FM added that the government will provide 12-month internship opportunities to 1 crore youth in top 500 companies for a 5 year period. “The government will give internship allowance of ₹5,000 per month and a one time assistance of ₹6,000. The companies will bear training cost and 12% of the internship cost,” Sitharaman said.

The Congress party had in its manifesto for Lok Sabha Elections 2024 titled - Nyay Patra promised ₹1 Lakh apprenticeship stipend for one year for diploma holder/graduate below the age of 25 years.