Chennai, Feb 1 (IANS) The Communist Party of India’s (CPI) Tamil Nadu unit on Wednesday said that the Union Budget was aimed at the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and was discriminating against the state.
CPI state Secretary, R. Mutharasan, in a statement, said the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had not provided GST compensation that was due to Tamil Nadu.
Noting that the Union Budget had announced an assistance of Rs 5,300 crore to the Upper Badra project in Karnataka meant for sustainable micro irrigation, he said that while the GST compensation that was due for Tamil Nadu was not provided, sanctioning a project in Karnataka was pure discrimination for political reasons. The BJP is in power in neighbouring, poll-bound Karnataka.
Mutharasan also said that an announcement of Rs 9,000 crore for the micro, small and medium enterprises was very meagre as the MSME sector was the backbone of the country’s economy and also on self-reliance.
He said that the budget had neglected the welfare of 93 per cent of workers in unorganised sectors like the construction workers and migrant workers.
The CPI leader also said that the budget had deceived the people and had shown a green flag to corporate sector that was close to the Union government.
Meanwhile, in a related development, opposition MPs from Tamil Nadu protested in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament against the Union budget not providing funds for the AIIMS in Madurai.
MPs Manickam Tagore, Vijay Vasanth, Karti Chidambaram, A. Chellakumar, S. Gnanathiraviam, S. Venkitesan, and Kani K. Navas participated in the protest.
AMMK General Secretary and former MLA, T.T.V. Dhinakaran said that the budget did not look into the growing unemployment as also slow economic growth. He however said that the income tax ceiling exemption was a good measure.
–IANS
aal/vd
