New Delhi: The Delhi BJP on Wednesday rejected the annual budget 2023-24 of the AAP government as “directionless” and “repackaging of old promises”.
Delhi Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot presented the Rs 78,800-crore budget, giving a major push to transport and infrastructure with an allocation of Rs 21,817 crore ahead of the G20 Summit, and announced a comprehensive plan to make the national capital a “clean, beautiful and modern city”.
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva claimed that the budget had nothing new to offer.
“Various schemes like road upgradation, Yamuna cleaning, development of lakes and bus procurement were already repeated many times by the Arvind Kejriwal government in the past months and years,” he said.
The entire budget was full of repackaged promises and plans of the government that were not fulfilled in the past, he claimed.
Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said the budget is a question mark on the AAP government’s credibility and that it is directionless.
Gahlot talked about zero tolerance against corruption in his budget speech which was the “worst” joke as two ministers of the Kejriwal government are in jail for their involvement in scams, he said.
The finance minister promised that in 2023-24, there will not be a single broken road or footpath, but this government makes such promises several times a year, he said.
BJP MP Manoj Tiwari termed the Kejriwal government’s budget 2023-24 as a “copy-paste” of the previous budget.
“Kejriwal has no longer any vision, that is why there is nothing new in the budget and people are still suffering from its failures,” he charged.
BJP MLA Vijender Gupta said the budget was an “eyewash” and health and education sectors were in “disarray” despite significant allocations over the years.
“Out of the total budgeted estimate of Rs 78,800 crore, only Rs 21,817 crore (or 27 per cent) is allocated for capital expenditure, while the remaining Rs 56,983 crore is directed towards revenue expenditure. This points to financial mismanagement,” Gupta said.
In the name of G-20 preparations, the finance minister has made several claims. But none of the projects Gahlot spoke about could be completed within six months, when the G20 is supposed to take place, he added.
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